ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1470 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1470 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 31 Dec 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help choosing a Viking or Scottish Celtic name with or as your given name, and as your surname. This letter is a brief answer to your question. 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, then we may not be able to help you. is the name of one of the three Graces in ancient Greek mythology. As far as we can tell, it was not used as a name by real people in western Europe in our period [1, 2]. [See correction below] is a Gaelic name which may perhaps have been used as a woman's name in Ireland in Co. Derry and Co. Omeath late in our period. We don't have clear evidence that it was used before the 19th century, though; it might well have been a modern invention. It is certainly more popular in modern use than it ever was in period. We have no evidence that the name was used in period Scotland or elsewhere. The name is pronounced roughly \AHSH-lin~\, where \n~\ represents a sound like the in or the in French . Note that it is incorrect to pronounce it either \ICE-lin\ or \ACE-lin\ [3]. is a modern English phrase unlike any surname or sobriquet we've seen in any British or Scandinavian language. We recommend that you avoid it. It's not clear to us how you'll want to proceed. Both Old Norse and Gaelic were spoken in Scotland in our period, and we'd be happy to help you construct an authentic name in either language. However, the range of time and culture that you discussed in your letter was too broad for us to make useful suggestions without a clearer idea of what sort of name you want. You can find articles on both period Gaelic and period Viking names on the web; start at http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/ We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. Talan Gwynek and Margaret Makafee assisted me with this letter. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 31 Dec 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). [2] Dunkling, Leslie and William Gosling, _The New American Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Signet Books, 1983). [3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Aislinn. ---- 14 Dec 2010, correction by Aryanhwy: Since this report was written, we have found 27 examples of being used by real women in the classical Greek era. [4] [4] Fraser, P.M., and E. Matthews, "The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names" (WWW: Oxford University, 1998) http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/.