ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2407 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2407 ************************************ From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 24 Nov 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a woman living in Ireland between 900 and 1300. Here is the information we have found. is a later spelling of a Gaelic name more commonly written during your period as 'devotee of Jesus' [1]. The slash represents an accent over the preceding letter. As you found in your own research, it is a masculine name; we have no examples of the name used by women. Names of the form , where X is the name of a saint or religious figure, were very popular in the early period of Gaelic naming, but we find very few of these names used for women. The word literally means 'shaved', and a term like probably originally referred to a tonsured monk who had devoted himself to Jesus; it is certain that the name appeared first in clerical circles and spread to the lay population later [1]. The only names of this form that we find used for women are examples where the object of the devotion is female. We find 'servant of Mary' and 'servant of (Saint) Ide'; Ide was a popular female saint [2, 3, 4]. Either of these names would be appropriate for you; we also believe that 'servant of (Saint) Brigit' is appropriate [5]. As you noted, Gaelic women were usually identified as their fathers' daughters. Their names were most often constructed in the form [6]. The word means 'daughter'; it was spelled after about 1200. The genitive case shows possession: Just as the English becomes in the phrase , so a Gaelic name will change in ways determined by Gaelic grammar. Lenition is a softening of the initial sounds of words that is required by Gaelic grammar in some circumstances. When it is indicated in writing it is represented by placing a dot over the letter (which we represent as a period following the letter) or an following the letter [7]. We have not found used as a given name. There is a modern Irish clan name [8]; we aren't sure of its origin, but it doesn't appear to derive from a given name. If your goal is to use a feminine form of the clan name, then you want 'daughter of O/ Medra' in early spelling, in later spelling. These are pronounced \EEN-y@n wee VEDH-r@\, where \@\ represents the sound of in and and \DH\ represents voiced \th\, the sound of in . We have not found the clan name recorded in your period, so we cannot recommend it as the best recreation; clan affiliation bynames do begin to be used around the 10th century in Ireland, so it not impossible that the name was in use [6]. If you prefer a simple patronymic, then you might consider the masculine name ; there is an early Irish saint by this name [9]. If you decide to use it, then your byname would be before 1200 and or later, both pronounced roughly \EEN-y@n VEDH-rahn~\ for most of you period, but \EEN-y@n VEGH-rahn~\ by the end of your period. Here \GH\ represents the voiced \kh\; \kh\ is the the rasping sound of in Scottish loch 'lake' or German ach 'oh' and Bach. The symbol \n~\ represents a palatalized n, the sound of in Spanish 'mister' and in French 'mountain'. We have not found this name recorded in your period, so it is not the best choice for your father's name. If you'd like to select a different name for your father, we recommend the following article: "100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/irish100 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 Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Catalana di Neri, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Julie Stampnitzky, Mari neyn Brian, Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 24 November 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Ma/el I/su. The spelling would not be appropriate until at least 1200. [2] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ [3] Flanagan, Laurence, _A Chronicle of Irish Saints_ (Belfast: The Blackstaff Press Ltd., 1990), p. 18. [4] There are two other names that we find used by women, and , but in these cases we believe that the second element is not a proper name, but a descriptive word ('ugly' and 'travelling', respectively). is possibly related to 'ugly head' (Anglicized as ). [5] O/ Corra/in and Maguire, s.n. Brigit. [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] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Lenition in Gaelic Orthography", (WWW: Privately published, 27 Aug 2000). http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml [8] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3), s.n. (O) Meara. [9] O/ Riain, Pa/draig, ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1985).