ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2073 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2073 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 22 Jun 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for the daughter of a Scottish clan chieftain who lived between 1300 and 1600. Here is what we have found. Since you want to be the daughter of a clan chieftain, we assume you are interested in a Scottish Gaelic name. Gaelic was only one of the languages spoken in Scotland in our period. Starting in the late 14th century, there were two main languages: Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands, and Scots, spoken in the Lowlands, including the royal court and towns. Gaelic was the same language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots was closely related to contemporary English. Names were formed quite differently in the two languages, and the two styles of naming did not mix. Therefore, the culture you choose for your persona will determine how your name should be constructed. We will focus on Gaelic names in this discussion. is a modern Irish name, a variant spelling of , which was apparently coined from the Gaelic word "dream, a vision" [1]. You can see our research on this name on the web: Concerning the Names Aislinn, Ashling, Eislinn, and the Like http://www.MedievalScotland.org/problem/names/aislinn.shtml Although the name is moderately popular in the Society, it was not used as a name in our period and we recommend you choose a different one. We've posted some lists of Gaelic names on the web: Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names http://www.panix.com/~mittle/arval/scotgaelfem/ Women's Names in the Annals of Connacht: 1224-1544 http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/mari/AnnalsConnacht/women.html One name that looks reasonably similar to is , cited from 1510 and 1524 in the Connacht article. This name was also spelled (with an acute accent mark on the second 'i'), and was originally a Gaelic borrowing of the English name or [1, 2]. The Gaelic form was pronounced \EHV-leen~\ or \AV-leen~\. The symbol \n~\ represents the sound of n-tilde in Spanish or of in French . Another possibility is , a Scottish Gaelic borrowing of the English name . This is a modern spelling, but the name was reasonably popular in late-period Scots and we think it was very likely adopted into Gaelic before the end of our period [4, 5]. It would have been pronounced \AHL-@-sahn\. \@\ represents the sound of the in or . The modern Scottish surname derives from the Gaelic "son of the abbot" [3]. In our period, Gaelic patronymic bynames like this one were used literally, i.e. a man was known as only because his father was an abbot. (The abbot in question may not have been a cleric: The heads of some clans doubled as hereditary lay abbots. "The early chiefs of the Clan Macnab were probably lay abbots of Glendochart..." [3; but see the addendum at the end of the letter].) The general practice of using surnames to indicate clan membership is a modern one, not used in our period. Thus, a man called might have been a member of any clan; his name only tells us that his father was an abbot. His sister Allasan would have been called "Allasan daughter of the abbot." The phrase would have been pronounced \EEN-y@n ahn AH-b@\ for the first two centuries of your period, and \NEE-y@n ahn AH-b@\ for most of the last century. The major exception to this rule is clan chieftains and their immediate families. Many clan chieftains had honorific titles that looked very similar to patronymic bynames. Thus, it is possible that a clan chieftain named Domhnall mac Cormaic would also have had the chiefly title , perhaps because his clan traced its descent from a famous ancestor who was an abbot. His children Cormac and Allasan might then have been known as "Cormac son of Mac an Aba" and "Allasan daughter of Mac an Aba". Note that these bynames are still literal. The phrase was pronounced \EEN-y@n vick ahn AH-b@\ in the 14th and 15th centuries, and \NEE-y@n vick an AH-b@\ or \NEEK an AH-b@\ in the 16th. The byname you asked about, , would not have appeared in Gaelic until after our period. While the phrase was pronounced \neek\ by the end of our period, at least in some dialects, the Gaelic spelling did not catch up until sometime in the 17th century or later [3]. We strongly recommend you avoid using in a pre-17th century Gaelic name. 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 Mari neyn Bryan, Talan Gwynek, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Juliana de Luna, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Blaise de Cormeilles. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 22 Jun 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Aislinn, Eibhli/n. [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.n. Aibhili/n. [3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Macnab, Nic. The word is sometimes found in 15th and 16th century Scots documents, where it was essentially a phonetic rendering of the pronunciation of the Gaelic phrase . Thus, a 16th century Gaelic woman named might have been identified by a Scots scribe as . [4] Morgan, Peadar, _Ainmean Chloinne: Scottish Gaelic Names for Children_ (Scotland: Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989). [5] Black, op. cit., s.n. Alison says that the name first appeared in Scotland at the beginning of the 15th century, and notes its popularity. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Addendum, 26 Jun 2002, Arval: We're not sure how late there were lay abbots among the Gaels in Scotland. There were apparently Lowland lay abbots as late as the 16th century -- see http://www.scottishcastlesassociation.com/newsltr/no2/page8.htm which discusses a 16th century lay abbot, David Beaton of Balfour, later Archbishop of St. Andrews and Cardinal. But that doesn't mean that the office still existed in the culturally-distinct Highlands. We're fairly confident that there were Gaelic lay abbots in the 13th century: A Clan Ross page at http://www.summerknights.com/Clan%20Ross/clanross.htm mentions a 13th century lay abbot who became first Earl of Ross. The upshot is that we're no longer comfortable recommending the literal use of and in the 14th century and beyond.