ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2379 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2379 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 29 Nov 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if and would be correct names for a Gaelic woman and man living in 8th-10th century Scotland. Here is the information we have found. During your period, Gaelic Ireland and Gaelic Scotland were still somewhat similar in culture; though the two cultures had begun to diverge, they were not as distinct yet as they would be later, and their name pools were still similar. If a name was fairly common in Ireland, it is plausible that it was also used in Scotland, even if we have found no direct evidence for its use. Because our sources for early period Scottish Gaelic feminine names are quite slim, we have therefore made recommendations based on both Irish and Scottish Gaelic usage. or was the name of an Irish legendary figure, the sister of Medb and Uaithne. (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter). While we were unable to find any evidence that was used by real people in either Ireland or Scotland in your period, both of the names and were used throughout the Middle Ages in Ireland. [1] It is possible that was also used in early period Ireland, but we have found no explicit evidence that it was. Furthermore, we found no evidence at all that either or either of or were used in Scotland at any time; this could reflect the fact that our sources for Scottish Gaelic feminine names are very slim, or that the name was not in use at all. was pronounced \AY-l~@\, where \L~\ is a palatalized- L, pronounced like Spanish "ll". The \@\ is the schwa, much like the "a" at the end of . If you would like to consider a different given name, we recommend you return to the article you looked at before: "Early Irish Feminine Names" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/obrien/ As you can see, not all of the names in this article are appropriate for a Scottish Gaelic persona. If any of these names interest you, please write us again and we'll be happy to tell you if we think it would be an appropriate choice. was also common in medieval Ireland. [1] The spelling is found in Scotland in 1131. We also found the Latin forms and in the 12th century. [2] While we did not find the name in your period in Scotland, it doesn't seem unreasonable that it was in use by the end of your period. The appropriate byname meaning "daughter of Ruadri" is , pronounced \EEN-y@n ROO-@-dhree\, where \dh\ is the voiced \th\, the sound of in and , but not in . was a popular name in early Ireland. [1] In Scotland, it gave rise to the anglicized surname , which is found throughout the Middle Ages. This is an excellent choice for your husband's name. [2] It was pronounced \GOO-@r-y@\. The name was also quite common in both early Ireland and Scotland; among other examples, we find it as , the name of Pictish king who died ca. 761. [2] It is an excellent choice for your husband's father's name. The appropriate form of a byname meaning "son of A/engus" is . The change from to is a grammatical requirement; it is analogous to the change from to in forming the possessive. The byname would have been pronounced \mahk EN-ghus@\, with the \u\ pronounced as in . \gh\ represents a sound not used in English; it is the voiced equivalent of \kh\, the rasping sound in the Scottish word or German . "Voiced" means pronounced while vibrating your vocal cords; \gh\ is related to \kh\ in the same way as the \g\ in (as in a fish's gill) is related to the \k\ in , or the \f\ in is related to the \v\ in . In summary, would be a possible, though not particularly plausible, early period Scottish Gaelic feminine name, while is a fine masculine name from the same period. 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 were provided by Adelaide de Beaumont, Maridonna Benvenuti, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Africa filia Kennoci, and Ursula Georges. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 29Nov01 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Eile, Guaire, Medb, Ruaidri/, Uaithne [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). s.nn. Angus, McQuarrie, Rory