ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1843 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1843 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 13 Nov 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an appropriate Scots/Irish feminine name. Here is a brief letter with what we've found. The name does not appear to have been used in either Ireland or Scotland in period. In fact, the only example of the name that we found was in England: in 1212. [1] This falls into the period of a few decades around the year 1200 there seems to have been a fashion in England for unusual names, especially for women. We therefore recommend that if you want a Gaelic persona you choose a different name. was originally an English surname, from the Old English , "wood." [2] It was first found in Ireland in the 16th century, though it is found earlier in Scotland. [3] We can only recommend it as a surname for an English person living in Ireland or a Scottish person who moved to Ireland, or a child or grandchild of such a person. If you're interested in an Irish or Scottish Gaelic name, we have a number of articles available on the web that you may be interested in: "Quick & Easy Gaelic Bynames" http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/quickgaelicbynam es/index.html "Early Irish Feminine Names" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/obrien/ "Scottish Names 101" http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/scotnames101.htm l "Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/scotgaelfem/ If you're interested in finding an English given name to go with , we can recommend a few other sources: "Feminine Given Names found in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/reaney/ "Yorkshire Given Names from 1379" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/yorkshire/ "Late 16th Century English Given Names" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/eng16/ Any name that was common in England could have been born by an English immigrant to Ireland. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Maridonna Benvenuti, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael --------------------------------------- References: [1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/reaney/]. [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.n. Shaw [3] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3). s.n. Shaw