ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1502 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1502 ************************************ 8 Mar 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked how you could use the word <Rowan> in a 13th or 14th century woman's name from the British Isles, perhaps with the given name <Caitriona>. Here is what we have found. <Caitri/ona> is a Gaelic borrowing of the Anglo-Norman name <Catherine>. It was used by Gaels in both Ireland and Scotland [1, 2]. We have an example of the name in Scottish Gaelic in 1467; it may well have been used in your period, too. The slash in the name represents an accent on the preceding letter. The name is pronounced \kaht-REE-nah\. The common mis-pronunciation \kah-tree-OH-na\ is incorrect. <Rowan> is a tricky name. We have found no evidence that it was used by men or women as a given name in our period. The modern English given name <Rowan> probably derives from the name of tree -- it has been fashionable at several times in recent centuries to name girls after plants. <Rowan> has also been used as an English spelling of the Irish masculine name <Ruadha/n>. That name is recorded in early medieval Ireland [1, 6]. It produced the family name <O/ Ruadha/in> "[male] descendent of Ruadha/n", which is recorded around 1600 in English records as <O Rowane>, <O Roan>, and <O Ruane> [5]. The Irish Gaelic name like <Caitri/ona inghean ui/ Ruadha/in> "Caitri/ona daughter of O/ Ruadha/n" would be a fine choice for your period. It would have been pronounced \kaht-REE-nah IN-yen ee ROO-ahn\. <Rowan> appears independently as a surname in Scotland, e.g. <William Rowan> 1513. The same man's surname was recorded in 1509 as <Rolland> and <Rowand>, which suggests that it derived from the given name <Roland> [3]. Since <Katherine> was common in late-period Scots, also spelled <Catharine>, <Catrina>, and several other ways, <Catrina Rowan> is a fine Lowland name at least in the 16th century and possibly earlier [4]. It is entirely possible that this surname was associated with the tree-name, but we believe it did not derive from that source. The modern surname <MacCoul> probably derives from several different Gaelic names. One of them may be the rare <mac Cuill> "son of Coll". The root name <Coll> may be related to the Irish word <coll> "hazel(tree)" [5]. Even if it is related, though, the name <MacCoul> does not mean "son of the hazel" any more than the English surname <Peterson> means "son of the rock". All it tells us is that this particular Irish tree-name may have been used as a given name. That doesn't mean that other tree-names were also used that way, so we can't justify constructing a name that means "daughter of the rowantree". You didn't mention English as one of the languages that interests you, but it is the only language in which we can justify a name that actually refers to the tree <rowan>. The word <rowan> wasn't used a the name of the tree until the 19th century [7], but the compound <rountre> is found earlier. We found an Englishman named <Robert Rountre> in 1301 [8]. <Katherine Rountre> would be a fine English name for your period. 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 Margaret Makafee, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Teceangl Bach, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 8 Mar 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Caiteri/na. [2] A photograph of the "1467 MS", a Gaelic genealogical manuscript, which is shelf-marked 72.1.1 in the Scottish National Library. Colm O'Boyle has kindly helped with our transcriptions from this manuscript. [3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Rowan. [4] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish Records" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/scottishfem/ [5] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.nn. Mac Cuill, O/ Ruadha/in. [6] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). [7] The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), s.v. rowan. [8] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Rowntree.