ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2120
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2120
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* NOTE: Later research turned up additional *
* information relevant to this report. *
* See the end of the letter for details. *
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06 Jan 2001
From: Judith Phillips
Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked us whether the given names <Suisana> (or any Gaelic borrowing of
<Susanna>), <Soronna>, and <Siobhana> would be appropriate for a 15th
century Scottish Highland woman. You also asked about bynames for a woman
whose father's name was <Mhic Leanna/in> or <Mhic Logan>. Here is the
information we found.
Starting in the late 14th century, there were two main languages spoken in
Scotland: 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. Gaelic was
rarely used as a written language in 15th century Scotland. Documents were
written in Scots or Latin, so we'll also discuss some written forms in
those languages.
We have no example of any form of the name <Susanna> borrowed into Gaelic
in period. <Suisana> is a particularly unlikely variant, since it violates
normal Gaelic spelling conventions [1]. We do have an example of <Susanna>
used in Fife, a Scots-speaking area, in 1584 [2]. Thus the name <Susanna>
was used in late period Scotland, but as far as we know it was used only in
Scots-language contexts.
We believe that <Soronna> is a misreading of <So/sanna>; the long "s" used
in the Irish typeface looks like a long-tailed "r." We have no evidence of
<So/sanna> as a period Gaelic name and suspect that it is a modern Gaelic
borrowing of Scots/English <Susanna>.
<Siobhana> appears to be a modern form of <Siban>, later spelled <Siobhan>,
an Irish Gaelic borrowing of Anglo-Norman <Jehane> [3]. We have found no
period example of the spelling <Siobhana> and suspect that it is strictly a
modern form. The final <-a> would be very uncharacteristic of period
Gaelic, and we think that it was added later to make the name sound more
feminine to English speakers. We have no example of the name <Siobhan> in
period Scotland.
There is a related Scottish Gaelic name, <Seonaid>, a Gaelic borrowing of
the Scots name <Jonet> (itself a diminutive of Norman <Jone> or <Joan>
[4]). <Seonaid> was pronounced \SHOH-n@tch\, where \@\ represents the sound
of <a> in <about> or <sofa>. Some form of <Seonaid> was used in 15th
century Scotland, although we cannot be certain of the period Gaelic
spelling [5]. A 15th century Highland woman named <Seonaid> would probably
have been recorded as <Jonet> in Scots language documents and as <Joneta>
in Latin documents. <Jonet> was pronounced \DJOH-n@t\.
You wrote that you wish to form your byname following the example from
"Quick and Easy Gaelic Names," where Dearbhorgaill who is the daughter of
Mac Beatha mac Cormaic would be called <Dearbhorgaill inghean Mhic Beatha>.
[6] You wished to form the byname <inghean Mhic Leannain> or <inghean Mhic
Logain> in this manner. Unfortunately, we do not believe that these are
plausible Scottish Gaelic names.
The <inghean mhic> construction arises in a woman's name when her father's
name begins with <Mac>. <Mac> becomes <Mhic> when it is put into the
genitive case and lenited, changes required by Gaelic grammar. (The
genitive case is used to show possession, similar to changing <John> to
<John's>; lenition is a "softening" of initial consonants in certain
grammatical situations.) [6]
In the example you cited, <Mac> is an integral part of the father's given
name <Mac Beatha>. There are a very few Gaelic men's names that were formed
in this fashion, most with allegorical meanings like "son of light." We
have no examples of given names <Mac Leanna/in> or <Mac Lo/ga/in> that
could have given rise to <inghean Mhic Leanna/in> or <inghean Mhic Loga/in>
in this fashion. In fact, the Logan family seems to derive its name from a
place name in Ayrshire, so we doubt that <inghean Mhic Loga/in> is a
plausible Gaelic name at all. [7]
There are two other situations in which a man's name containing the element
<Mac> might give rise to a woman's byname containing the phrase <inghean
mhic>. In Ireland, women's bynames sometimes referred to their grandfathers
or other male ancestors. For example, Fionnghuala the daughter of Domhnall
mac Aoidh might have been called <Fionnghuala inghean Domhnaill mhic Aoidh>
or simply <Fionnghuala inghean mhic Aoidh>, "Fionnghuala daughter of mac
Aoidh." There is an Irish given name <Leanna/in> [8], so an Irish woman
Siobhan the daughter of Domhnall mac Leanna/in might have been called
<Siobhan inghean mhic Leanna/in>. However, as far as we know neither this
naming style nor the name <Leanna/in> was used in Scotland.
In Scotland, the daughter of a clan chief might be described by her
father's chiefly title. [9] For example, <Mac Cailin> was the chiefly title
of the Campbells of Argyle [10]. Seonaid the daughter of <Gille Escoib mac
Dubhgaill> who was chief of that clan might be called <Seonaid inghean Mhic
Chailin> as well as <Seonaid inghean Ghille Escoib>. However, we know of no
title <Mac Leanna/in> that could have given rise to <Seonaid inghean Mhic
Leanna/in> in this fashion and doubt that one could have existed, since we
have found no example of the given name <Leannai/n> in Scotland. In
addition, this kind of name may make a claim to noble rank that is contrary
to Society custom.
The modern surname <MacLennan> is derived from the Gaelic byname <mac Gille
Fhinne/in>. [11] If you are most interested in having an authentic Scottish
Gaelic name, you might wish to consider <Seonaid inghean Ghille Fhinne/in>.
(<Ghille> is the lenited version of <Gille>.) A careful pronounciation of
the full name would have been \SHOH-n@tch EEN-yen GHIL-l@ IN~-ayn~\;
however, Scots language documentary forms suggest that the pronounciation
of <Ghille Fhinne/in> was closer to \gh@-LIN~-ayn~\ in historical practice.
(Above, \GH\ is the voiced version of \kh\, the rasping "ch" sound in
Scottish <loch> or German <Bach>. To get \gh\, say \kh\ while vibrating
your vocal cords. \GH\ is related to \kh\ as \g\ to \k\, \z\ to \s\, or \v\
to \f\. \N~\ is the sound of \gn\ in French <montagne> or Italian <lasagna>
or the n-tilde in Spanish <sen~or>.)
We don't know what title was used by the chief of the MacLennan clan; it is
possible that he was known simply as <Mac Ghille Fhinne/in>. (The chief's
title was not necessarily the same as the name of the clan; the Campbells
were known as <Clann Mhic Dhuibhne> in Gaelic, but as mentioned earlier
their chief's title was <Mac Cailin>. [10]) We believe that <Seonaid
inghean Mhic Ghille Fhinne/in> is a plausible name for a Scottish clan
chief's daughter. (Pronunciation is the same as above, except that <Mhic>
was pronounced \veek\, i.e., \SHOH-n@tch EEN-yen veek GHIL-l@ IN~-ayn~\ or
\SHOH-n@tch EEN-yen veek gh@-LIN~-ayn~\ ).
If you prefer to use the given name <Susanna>, we recommend you consider a
Scots language name suitable for a Lowlander. The byname <mac Gille
Fhinne/in> was adopted into Scots language usage; we have <M'Clenane>,
pronounced \mahk-KLEN-ahn\, recorded in Fife in 1586 [11]. (Since 16th
century Fife is considered to be Scots-speaking, we believe that this is
probably the name of a Lowlander rather than a Scots language recording of
a Gaelic name.) Additional 15th and 16th century forms we found are [11]:
Makynnane, 1480
M'Lenane, 1483
M'Clynyne, 1529
M'Clanan, 1592
Makclennand, 1594
By the 16th century, Lowland surnames were fixed and inherited, as they are
in modern English speaking countries, so Susanna the daughter of Johne
M'Clenane was simply called <Susanna M'Clenane.> [12]
In summary, we can recommend no Gaelic form of <Susanna>. We cannot
recommend <Siobhana> as a Gaelic name, but the related name <Seonaid> is
reasonable for a 15th century Scottish Gaelic woman. We cannot recommend
<Seonaid inghean Mhic Leanna/in>, but <Seonaid inghean Ghille Fhinne/in> is
a fine 15th century Scottish Gaelic name and <Seonaid inghean Mhic Ghille
Fhinne/in> is plausible. <Susanna M'Clenane> would be an excellent 16th
century Lowland name.
I hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you will not
hesitate to contact us if any part of it has been unclear or if you have
any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Talan
Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Ewphrick neyn Kenneoch, Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide
de Beaumont, Dietmar von Straubing, Amant le Marinier, and Juliana de Luna.
For the Academy,
Adeliza de Saviniaco
6 January 2001
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References:
[1] Gaelic would not normally place a consonant between an <i> and an <a>
in this manner.
[2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and
History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). s.n. Meek.
[3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The
Lilliput Press, 1990). s.v. Siba/n.
[4] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_,
3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.v. Jane, Janet.
[5] <Seonaid> is found in Watson, William J., ed., _Scottish Verse from the
Book of the Dean of Lismore_, Scottish Gaelic Texts, Volume 1. (Edinburgh:
Oliver & Boyd, 1937). This edition uses standard modern Gaelic spelling.
The spellings in the original early 16th century manuscript, <Soonayd> and
<Soynoid>, are both from poetic descriptions of an early 15th century man
as the son of a woman whose name is rendered in modern Gaelic as Seonaid.
These spellings suggest that the 15th century standard Gaelic form of the
name was similar to <Seonaid>, but we cannot be certain of the exact
spelling, since the original manuscript, although written in Gaelic, did
not use standard Gaelic spelling but rather adapted Scots language spelling
conventions for writing Gaelic. The manuscript spellings are from
M'Lauchlan, Thomas, ed. and trans. _The Dean of Lismore's Book: A Selection
of Ancient Gaelic Poetry from a Manuscript Collection Made by Sir James
M'Gregor, Dean of Lismore, in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century_.
Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1862. pp. 106-107.
[6] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy
Gaelic Names (Draft 3rd Edition)", (WWW: Privately published, 27 Aug 2000).
http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/
[7] Black, s.n. Logan.
[8] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, s.v. Lenna/n.
[9] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vs Ralte), unpublished research.
[10] Mackechnie, John, "Treaty Between Argyll and O'Donnell", _Scottish
Gaelic Studies_ Vol. VII, Part I, May 1951.
[11] Black, s.n. Maclennan.
[12] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Scottish Names 101
(Draft 3rd Edition)", (WWW: Privately published, 27 August 2000).
http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/scotnames101-3rded.shtml
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Correction, Arval, 1 Nov 2001: The Gaelic name of the Campbells was
originally given incorrectly as <Clann Dhuibhne> rather than <Clann Mhic
Dhuibhne>.