ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1222 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1222 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 12 Sep 1998 From: Braddon Giles Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our help choosing a 15th century Gaelic name, with or as your given name, and or as your clan name. Here's what we've found. Your first choices are perfect for your period, so we're not going to discuss your second choices. We'll give you the background on your first choices and explain how they would have been combined to form your name. was an extremely popular name in Ireland in the later middle ages. It was be pronounced \FYUN-oo-a-la\, with the emphasis on the capital letters. The clan or family name is also well documented in your period. represents an with an accent [1,2]. Women used these family names by calling themselves the daughters of their fathers. The Gaelic word for is pronounced \IN-yen\. To show that you are your father's daughter, his name changes into the possessive form, just as is the possessive of in English. Sometimes there is another grammatical change, a softening of sounds called "lenition". In this instance, pronounced \MALE-khreev-eh\, becomes , pronounced \VALE-khreev-eh\ , where the \kh\ represents the sound of as in the Scottish or German . For a short form of your name, you could be called pronounced \FYUN-oo-a-la IN-yen ee VALE-khreev-eh\. This name effectively means "Fionnghuala of the Maolchraoibhe clan". If you want your full, formal name, you need to choose your father's first name. For example, if his name was , then he would be known as . His forename is pronounced like the \tig\ of \tiger\. Consequently, you would be known as . You will notice how Gaelic grammar changes his name. The full name is pronounced \FYUN-oo-a-la IN-yen TAYG ee VALE-khreev-eh\. The \AY\ sounds halfway between the vowels in and . If you are looking for sources for masculine Gaelic names for your father, then we can recommend that you look at this site: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100/ The names in this article are listed in spellings that were used up to 1200 or so. By your period, some of these names dropped out of use and almost all of them were spelling rather differently. If you find a few names that appeal to you, write us again and we'll be happy to give you the spellings appropriate to your period. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear, or if you have any other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin and Evan da Collaureo. For the Academy, Giles Leabrook. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press,1990). [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation) s.n. Gallagher. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 18 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in 'n', like , the letter 'D' does not lenite.