ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1433 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1433 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 1 Feb 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help with Irish names for yourself and your husband. You asked whether is an appropriate feminine name, and whether is an appropriate masculine given name. Here is what we have found. Irish naming practices, spelling, grammar, and pronunciation changed considerably over the course of the period you asked about, 850 to 1600. Some given names were used in the early Middle Ages, but fell out of favor in later centuries. Some of those were then revived in modern times, so modern usage is no guide to period naming. Some styles of naming were common late in period but nonexistent earlier, and again, modern naming practices cannot be taken as a guide to period practice. We can only offer general comments without knowing what part of the period you want your names to fit. seems to be a modern English form of the feminine name or , which appears in Irish legend. The first spelling is the one that would have been used in Gaelic before 1200 or so; the second is later. However, we have no evidence that any real person ever used the name in period, so we cannot recommend it. We can recommend some similarly-pronounced names [1, 2]: Ciar \K(y)AR\ Ciarnat, Ciarnait \K(y)AR-nitch\ Cera, Ceara \K(y)AIR-@\ When we list two spellings, the first is the early-medieval spelling (pre-1200) and the second is later-period. The symbol \@\ is a schwa, the sound of the 'a' in . The symbol (y) represents a very softly pronounced version of the 'y' in . If you'd like to consider some other period Irish women's names, you can find a list on the web: Early Irish Feminine Names From the Index To O'Brien's "Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae" http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html The modern surname derives from the Gaelic clan name . (The slash represents an accent on the previous letter.) This sort of clan name came into use in Ireland in the 10th century [3], so if you want your name to fit a later period than that, a feminine form of that name would be appropriate. The form you asked about, , is a modern feminine form of . More precisely, it is spelled in modern Gaelic, but this form did not exist in period Gaelic: The word is a post-period development. In period, a female member of the family would have been called (before 1200) or (later). This phrase literally means "daughter of O/ Ceallaigh", and in practice meant "female member of the O/ Ceallaigh clan". It was pronounced \IN-yen ee CHELL-ech\ earlier, \IN-yen ee CHELL-ee\ later. All three instances of \CH\ here represent the soft, hissy in German words like or . In our period, a woman in Gaelic culture was known primarily as her father's daughter. After the 10th century, Ceara, daughter of Connal mac Domhnaill o/ Ceallaigh, would have been called in formal circumstances. She might have been called or for short. You'll notice that the father's given name changes spelling when it's incorporated into the woman's name. The changes are grammatical requirements in Gaelic. The shift from to in the father's given name and in the clan name represent a softening of the initial sound, called "lenition". It is sometimes required in women's surnames. The addition of an in puts the name into its possessive form, like the <'s> in English . If you'd like to choose a given name for your father, you can find a good list of possibilities on the web: 100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100/ Gaelic grammar and pronunciation are tricky and often irregular, so feel free to write us to verify the details for any particular name that you choose. We could not find as a name in any of our references. It is a modern Gaelic word, meaning "free, unfettered, unattached", used with both positive connotations (freeman, volunteer) and negative (illegitimate) [3]. However, this word is not a name and we do not recommend using it that way. It is possible that it is used as a modern Irish adaptation of or , but we find no evidence that it was used that way in period. We think it is very unlikely: was an English surname and was the name of a Welsh sea-god, and as far as we can tell neither was used as a given name until modern times [4, 5, 6]. The most similar Irish masculine name that we found is , pronounced \DAHL-ahn\ We 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 Talan Gwynek and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 1 Feb 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Irish Names for Children_ (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1974). [3] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). [4] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Dillon. [5] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3), s.n. Dillon. [6] Dunkling, Leslie and William Gosling, _The New American Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Signet Books, 1983), s.nn. Dylan, Dillon. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 18 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in 'n', like , the letters 'D' and 'T' do not lenite; so I've used a different example for the father's given name.