ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1761 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1761 ************************************ 21 Jul 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! Here's the information we found about the names , , , , and . All of these are modern English names. We can trace some of them back to Irish names from the Middle Ages, but for some we found no information. is a modern English phonetic spelling of the modern Irish Gaelic name . This name was spelled in the early Middle Ages and after 1200 or so. Through most of that period, it was pronounced roughly \KEEL-in~\ [1, 2]. \n~\ represents the sound of in French words like or n-tilde in Spanish words like . is probably a modern English phonetic spelling of the Gaelic feminine name . We didn't actually find that name anywhere, but we did find examples of the masculine used in early medieval Ireland [2]. The slash represents an accent on the preceding letter. Many masculine names that end with the diminutive suffix <-a/n> had feminine equivalents ending <-nat>, so while we cannot say that was used in early medieval Ireland, it is plausible that it could have been. The name would have been pronounced roughly \KEE-@n-n@tch\. \@\ represents a schwa, the sound of the in or . We could not determine the origin of and, indeed, we found no reference to it in our books. The name probably derives from some Gaelic family name, but whatever its source, this spelling is certainly modern English. We recommend you not use it. is also an English name, created by adding the English feminine ending <-a> to the name , which was itself an English spelling of the Gaelic [2, 3]. The spelling is probably post-period; the feminine is modern. We notice that your real name is , so we thought you might like to have more information on related Gaelic names. originated in the 13th century or so as a Gaelic adaptation of the Anglo-Norman name . The feminine form of that name, , was also adapted into Gaelic as , spelled later in period. This name was pronounced \SHEE-vahn\. The related English name was also adapted into Gaelic as , pronounced \SHEE-nitch\ [2]. also appears to be an English form of some Irish Gaelic family name, but we did not find it in our references and we could not determine its origin. No native Gaelic given names started with an sound, so we are sure that does not have a period Gaelic equivalent. If you'd like to consider some other period Gaelic names, you can find articles on the subject on the web: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/qceltic.html For information on the construction of period Gaelic names, we recommend this article: Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ We hope this letter as been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. We were assisted in preparing this letter by Talan Gwynek and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Alan Fairfax & Arval Benicoeur 21 Jul 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s. n. Caoilinn. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Ca/elfind, Ciana/n, Seaan, Siba/n. [3] Coghlan, Ronan, _Irish Christian Names_ (London: Johnston and Bacon, 1979), s.n. Shauna.