ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1336
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1336
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30 Oct 1998
From: (Josh Mittleman)
Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for information about the name <Lili MacAoidh>, which you'd like
to use for a woman in 16th century Scotland. You also asked our opinion of
your arms. Here is what we have found.
Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers.
We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the
historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can
sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that
it not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's
needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name and arms, then
we may not be able to help you.
In your period, there were two languages spoken in Scotland: Gaelic,
spoken in the Highlands, and Scots, spoken in the Lowlands and the towns.
Gaelic is the same language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots is
closely related to contemporary English. Names were formed quite
differently in the two languages, and the two styles of naming did not mix.
Therefore, the culture you choose for your persona will determine how your
name should be constructed.
<Lili> is a modern Scottish name, but we find no evidence that it was used
in our period. In English, <Lily> or <Lylie> is a pet form of <Elizabeth>,
recorded as early as the 13th century. <Lillias> or <Lilias> probably also
originated as pet forms of <Elizabeth>, though all these names were also
influenced by the word <lily>, the name of a flower that was an important
Christian symbol. <Lillias> was used in Scotland in the 16th century,
however it is important to note that it was a Scots name, not Gaelic [1,
2].
<MacCoy> is an English form of the Irish Gaelic surname <mac Aoidh> or <mac
Aodha> (two spellings of the same name) [3]. Both forms mean "son of
Aodh". <MacKay> is a Scots or English form of the same Gaelic name as used
in Scotland. The name appears in 16th century Scots records in a variety
of spellings [4]:
McCay 1506 Makie 1558
Makkcee 1506 M'Akie 1559
Maky 1513 Makky 1567
Makke 1538 McKe 1575
McKe 1538 Mackkye 1588
Makhe 1538 Makkie 1600
In Gaelic in your period, <Mac> surnames were still used literally: A man
called <Domhnall mac Aodha> was the son of a man whose given name was
<Aodh>. (<Aodha> is the possessive form of <Aodh>, just as <John's> is the
possessive of <John> in English.) The modern practice of using <Mac>
surnames to indicate clan membership didn't exist in period. It is an 18th
or 19th century development. A woman would never have been called
<mac>-anything; it wouldn't have made sense. Aodh's daughter Ealusaid
would have been called <Ealusaid inghean Aodha>. The word <inghean> means
"daughter", just as <mac> means "son". It was pronounced \IN-yen\.
In Scots, by the 16th century, some <Mac> surnames came to be used as
inherited surnames , so that the daughter of a man named <John Makke> might
have been called <Ellene Makke>. The surname still carries no suggestion
of clan membership; it just means that Ellene's father's surname was
<Makke>.
Since <Lillias> was used in 16th century Scots, a name like <Lillias McCay>
would be an appropriate choice for your period. <Lillias MacAoidh> is not
correct, since <Lillias> is not a Gaelic name. Names were written either
in Gaelic or in Scots, not both together. <MacAoidh> could only have been
spelled this way in a Gaelic context; but in a Gaelic context a woman could
not have been called <Mac>-anything.
If you want a Gaelic name, then you'll need to choose a Gaelic given name.
Unfortunately, there is limited evidence of Gaelic women's names in
Scotland. Gaelic was rarely used as a written language in Scotland, and
women's names were recorded less often than men's. We have collected a
short list of Scottish Gaelic women's names that we've found in use in
period. You can find it on-line:
Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/scotgaelfem/
We can supplement this list with names found in Ireland. We can't be
certain that those names were also used in Scotland, but it's not an
unreasonable supposition. We don't find any Irish names that sound much
like <Lili> or <Lilias>, but if you'd like to consider some other names,
we'll be happy to send you a list. Let us know what letter or sound you'd
like your name to start with.
Thank you for sending the drawing of your design for your arms. While it
is a lovely design, we're afraid that it really isn't anything like
period heraldic arms. Beasts and monsters in period heraldry were drawn in
a few standard postures, chosen to fit well into the shield-shaped
background most often used for heraldry and to show off the beast's
identity to best advantage. The lion rampant, for example, fits neatly
into the shield and displays the shape of the body, the four limbs, the
head, and the tail. While your dragon is very stylish, it is a modern
artistic style, not one appropriate to a re-creation of 16th century
heraldry.
Dragons were rare in Scottish heraldry in your period. The earliest
Scottish examples of dragons that we've found are two wyverns (two-legged
dragons, one without wings) in a 16th century roll of arms [5]. The
four-legged winged dragon does not appear in British arms until quite late
in our period and we haven't found it in Scottish arms until well after our
period [6].
As you work on your arms, you may find it helpful to look at examples of
arms from your period, so that you can see what sort of designs were used.
Here are a few books that contains pictures of arms that you can use as
models for your re-creation.
Pinches, Rosemary and Anthony Wood, _A European Armorial: An Armorial of
Knights of the Golden Fleece and 15th Century Europe_ (London: Heraldry
Today, 1971).
This book contains arms from all over Europe, but they are organized by
country and there is a section of Scottish arms.
Foster, Joseph, _The Dictionary of Heraldry_ (New York: Arch Cape Press,
1989).
The examples in this book are from England and a bit earlier than your
period, but it's still a good reference. It contains several thousand
color drawings of arms from period English rolls of arms.
We know a couple other books which contains lots of pictures of 16th
century Scottish arms, but they're not widely available. If you can find
copies, you'll probably find these useful.
Stodart, R. R., _Scottish Arms_, 2 vols (Edinburgh: William Paterson,
1881).
Lindsay, David, Sir, _Fac simile of an ancient heraldic manuscript,
emblazoned by Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount 1542_, ed. David Laing
(Edinburgh: W. Patterson, 1878).
I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of
it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in
researching and writing this letter by Zenobia Naphtali.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
30 Oct 1998
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References
[1] Morgan, Peadar, _Ainmean Chloinne: Scottish Gaelic Names for Children_
(Scotland: Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989).
[2] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_,
3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).
[3] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic
Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3), s.n. MacCoy.
[4] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and
History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. MacKay.
[5] Stodart, R. R., _Armorial de Berry_.Stodart, R. R., _Scottish Arms_, 2
vols (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1881).
[6] Dennys, Rodney, _The Heraldic Imagination_ (New York: Clarkson and
Potter Inc., 1975), p.119]