ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1659
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1659
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15 Apr 1999
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Tady> is an appropriate first name for an Irishman
living before 1500; otherwise, you asked if we could provide a name similar
to <Tay>.  This letter is a brief answer to your question.

<Tady> is a modern English form of <Tadhg>, a Gaelic man's name that was
common in Ireland through much of our period and extremely common in the
later centuries [1, 2].  <Tadhg> was pronounced just like the first
syllable in <tiger>.  If it appeals to you, it's an excellent name for the
13th century or later.  We didn't find another Gaelic name more similar to
<Tay>.  We couldn't find any information on <Tay>, by the way.  Our best
guess is that it is the name of the Scottish river used as a given name,
and that it probably doesn't date back much beyond the 20th century.

An Irish Gael of your period would have been known primarily as his
father's son.  Tadhg son of Domhnall mac Aodha would have been called
<Tadhg mac Domhnaill>.  For more information about Irish naming, you can
read the article:

  Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames
    http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/


We hope this brief letter has been useful.  Please write us again if you
have any questions.  I was assisted in researching and writing this letter
by Walraven van Nijmegen and  Aryanhwy merch Catmael.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  15 Apr 1999


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References

[1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The
Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Tadc.

[2] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "100 Most
Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998).
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100