ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1718 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1718 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 11 May 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 14th or 15th century Irishwoman, and in particular if you've used the MacConmara clan name properly. Here's what we've found. is an early medieval spelling of the name of the saint; by your period it was spelled . However, the name did not come into use as a personal name in Gaelic until after our period. Period Gaels considered the names of major saints to be too holy for normal use. Instead, children were often named "servant of" or "devotee of" a saint. For example, "devotee of Brigit" was a common medieval Irish woman's name. It was pronounced \mail VREE-djeh\ [1]. The slash in the name represents an accent on the preceding letter. If you'd like to consider other Irish women's names used in your period, you can find some possibilities in an article on our medieval names website: Fourteenth to Sixteenth Century Irish Names and Naming Practices http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/lateirish/ In our experiece, surnames were not used as family names in period Gaelic, but rather literally. That is to say, a man was called only if his father's given name was . The plural form is used as a clan name in modern Irish, and it is possible that it was used that way in period, too; but it would not have been included in individual names to indicate clan membership [2]. That is to say, it is possible that a woman named "Maol Bri/ghde daughter of Conall" might have identified herself as a member of the Meic Conmara, but that identification would not have been part of her name. The phrase is the feminine form of . We haven't found any evidence that there was ever an Irish clan called , but it is a reasonable invention. Maol Bhri/ghde daughter of Conall O/ Conmara could have been called , which would have been pronounced \mail VREE-djeh IN-y@n ee KHOHN MAR-@\ in your period. \@\ is a schwa, the sound of the in or . \KH\ represents the raspy sound in Scottish or German . We should stress, though, that this name does not indicate a connection to the Mac Conmara family. 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 Talan Gwynek, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, and Effrick neyn Kenneoch. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 11 May 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, Irish Names (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Brigit. [2] MacLysaght, Edward. Irish Families (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1972). ----------------------------------------------------------- Annotation, Aryanhwy, 23 October 2006: Later research on names used by women, specifically , which supercedes the research in this letter can be found in Academy of S. Gabriel Report #2407, http://www.s-gabriel.org/2407