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Greetings,
Here is the information we found on the name "Tearlach Makie" and whether it would have been used in 14th-century Scotland.
"Tearlach" is a Gaelic name, and we found examples of it from the 11th century to the present. We aren't able to be completely sure of the spelling because we don't have information about the spelling of Gaelic names in 14th-century Scotland. We found an 11th-century example of the spelling "Toirdelbach," and modern examples of "Tearlach," but we're not sure what came in between.
Gaelic was one of two major languages spoken in 14th-century Scotland. The other language of Scotland was Scots, which is closely related to English. Almost all written records were kept in Scots or Latin, so the written examples of Gaelic names from your period are based on the Scots spelling system, which is totally different from Gaelic spelling conventions. Since your name would be recorded in Scots, we are only concerned with finding the possible Scots-language variants of your name.
The closest reference for your name in your period was "Duncan McTerlach" in 1436--close enough that we can be reasonably sure that "Tearlach," in some form, was used in the 14th century. We found other forms, including:
One source found three references to the same person, all from 1573, which are spelled
This should give you an idea of the potential variations in spelling. (We are fairly sure that the association of "Tearlach" and "Charles" is a later-period development, and not appropriate for a 14th-century Scot). Since names in this period and area didn't have a standardized spelling, alternating between a few different spellings would be more consistent with medieval practice that insisting on one spelling of your name be more correct than all the others.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, "Tearlach" was pronounced, more or less, 'tar-lahkh' aka 'tar-lahch' aka 'tar-loch', where 'kh'/'ch' represents the sound found in Scottish "loch" and German "ach" (a 'k' that you hiss or spit through). Although we have no examples of "Tearlach" from the 14th century, we're guessing that it was pronounced in more or less the same way during your period.
The name "Makie" is the Scots spelling of the Gaelic "mac Aoidh," meaning "son of Aodh." Gaelic "ao" represents a sound not found in Scots or English, but it can be represented as "eye," "ee," or "oo." Thus "Makie" would be pronounced something like "mac EYE" by a Gaelic speaker, pronounced as two distinct words. We found a wide variety of spellings, including Makke (1491), Make (1520), Makky (1574), McCay (1592), Mackie (16th C), McKie (1606), Makkie (1628), M'Ay (1326), McAy (1329), Macidh (1433), Makgye (and Macgye, Macye, M'Gy, Makgy, Magy) 1441-1450, McCay (1506), Makke and McKe (1538), Mackay (1408). There is also a Lowland Scots surname "Mackie", probably pronounced 'MACK-ee', but this would not be suitable for a Gaelic persona.
The references we quoted are from various entries in "The Surnames of Scotland" by George Black. "Makie" is found under the entry for MACKIE, and information on "Tearlach" is found under the entries for TEARLACH, MACTARLICH, and MACCARLICH.
Effric neyn Kenyeoch, Lindorm Eriksson, and Arval D'Espas Nord contributed to this name.
We hope this has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel