ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2088
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2088
************************************

5 Jul 2000
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Cecilia de Burgo> is an appropriate name for an
Anglo-Irish woman living between 1200 and 1600, and whether <Cecily
Cruikshank> is appropriate for a Lowland Scottish woman in the 1500s.  Here
is what we have found.

Both names are fine choices.

<Cecilia> is a Latinized form of a name that was common in England from the
12th century onward.  It appears in Scotland as <Cicilia> in the mid-14th
century.  These Latinized spellings were probably used only in written
documents; the spoken form in England and Lowland Scots was probably more
like <Cecily>.  We have found the name in 16th century England spelled
<Cecily>, <Cecilie>, and <Sysley> [1, 2, 3].  The name was adopted into
Gaelic in Ireland as <Si/le> (with an acute accent mark on the 'i').  Our
only dated examples in Ireland are Gaelic women from 1530 and 1531, but the
name would certainly have been available to the Anglo-Irish population much
earlier [4, 5].

<de Burgo> is an early, Latinized form of the surname that was <de Burgh>
or <Burke> in English and <Burc> or <a Burc> in Gaelic [5, 6].  <Cecilia de
Burgo> is a perfect choice for the early end of your period, though this
form probably would only have been used in writing.  The spoken form at
this point might have been <Cecily de Burgh> (the surname pronounced \d@
BOORKH\, where \@\ represents the sound of the <a> in <soda>, \OO\ in
pronounced as in <fool>, and \KH\ represents the raspy sound of the <ch> in
the Scottish word <loch>).  By the 14th century, the English name would
probably have been <Cecily Burke>.  The same woman might have been known in
Gaelic as <Si/le a Burc>.

The Lowland surname <Cruikshank> is recorded in many spellings in the 16th
century: <Crukshank> 1535, <Crushank> 1550, <Croukschank> 1538,
<Cruickshank> 1586, <Cruiksank> 1600, <Cruikschank> 1598, <Cruischank>
1591, <Crwikschank> and <Crwkschank> 1595 [7].  Your spelling,
<Cruikshank>, is within the range of variation.  In modern usage, the name
is usually pronounced \CROO-shank\, and some of the 16th century spellings
suggest that this pronunciation was used then, too, at least in some cases.
<Cecily Cruikshank> is a very reasonable Lowland name for this period,
given that <Cecily> is recorded in England contemporaneously.


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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Mari neyn
Bryan, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Effrick neyn
Kenneoch, and AElfwyn aet Gyrwum.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  5 Jul 2000


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References

[1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English
Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997)
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/reaney/

[2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and
History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Tremblay,
Macdonald."

[3] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish
Records" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). 
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/scottishfem/

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

[5] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, Ivonne Tummers, ed., "Anna/la
Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University
College, Cork, Ireland, 1997).  For <Sile>: ss. 1530-21, 1531.12.  For
forms of <de Burgo>, <Burc>, <a Burc>: 1232.3, 1248.13, 1256.5, 1362.7,
1419.33, 1435.9, 1421.18, 1536.18.  http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011/

[6] Tompsett, Brian C., "Directory of Royal Genealogical Data" (WWW:
privately published, 1994-1998).  Accessed 1 December 1998.
http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/public/genealogy/royal/catalog.html

[7] Black, s.n. Cruickshanks.