ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2526 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2526 ************************************ From: "Lisa and Ken Theriot" 8 May 2002 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a woman living in the Hebrides, on the Isle of Mull or Ulva, possibly in service to clan MacQuarrie, between 1300 and 1500. Here is the information we have found. Starting in the late 14th century, there were two main languages spoken in Scotland: Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands and Western Isles, 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. Since you specified Mull and Ulva, in the Western Isles, a Gaelic name similar to the one you've chosen is definitely the most appropriate. is an unattested spelling of the early medieval Irish Gaelic name , which we also find spelled [1]. Here the slash represents an acute accent over the preceding letter. After about 1200 Gaelic spelling conventions changed; there was considerable variation, but and are representative of the new conventions when they were consistently applied, and is a standard modern spelling of the name. It was the name of an early Irish saint [1, 2]. Unfortunately, we do not find this name recorded in your period in Ireland. The names of many popular Irish saints were considered too holy for common people to use, and accordingly these names fell out of fashion until they were revived in modern times. may be such a name. We have not found any evidence of the name in Scotland. Gaelic was sometimes used as a written language in Scotland from at least the 12th century, but few Scottish Gaelic documents survive [3]. Because of the scarcity of period Scottish documents in Gaelic, we have a poor selection of attested Gaelic given names, especially feminine names, rendered in Gaelic, so we cannot be certain that was not used, but we have found no evidence that it was. Early Scottish Gaelic names were likely very similar to Irish Gaelic names; however, by your period we believe the naming pools of Gaelic-speakers in Ireland and Gaelic-speakers in Scotland differed. Accordingly, we recommend that you choose a name for which we have evidence in Scotland. The following article will be helpful: Scottish Gaelic Given Names: For Women http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/women.shtml This article contains all the given names for which we currently have evidence in Scotland, from records in several languages. It is a work in progress, so if you check back periodically, you may find additional names. Your byname, 'daughter of Lauchlainn', is a fine choice, though we will suggest a different spelling. The name or was used by Scottish Gaels in your period [4, 5]. The spelling is partially Anglicized and is unlikely to have been used in your period; we recommend you use one of the two we've suggested. The byname , which would have been used literally for a woman whose father's given name was , was pronounced \EEN-y@n LOHKH-lahn~\ in the 14th and 15th centuries. Here \@\ represents the sound of in and , \OH\ represents the sound of in , \KH\ represents the rasping sound of in Scottish or German , and \n~\ represents the sound of n-tilde in Spanish and in French and Italian . The byname was pronounced \EEN-y@n LAHKH-lahn~\. The word did come to be pronounced \NEE-y@n\; generally this occurred in the 16th century, but we have evidence that it was pronounced that way by at least some people near the end of your period [6]. 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, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Talan Gwynek, and Ursula Georges. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 8 May 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Ca/elfind. [2] The saint's name was pronounced roughly \KEYL-yin\, with the \EY\ as in , shifting to \KELL-yin\ around the 12th century. After 1200 or so, the name was pronounced \KAYL-yin\. [3] The primary written language of Scotland before the 14th century was Latin. Scots rose as a written language in the late 14th century and became increasingly important over the next two centuries, but Latin remained in use for various kinds of documents into the 17th century. [4] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Lachlan, Lachlanson, Maclauchlan, Macquarrie, MacQuhirrie. Citations from your period include in 1304-5, in 1327, in 1328, in 1329, and in 1425. We also find later examples specific to the Hebrides; is recorded in Kintyre in 1605 and of Ulva is recorded in 1675. [5] Bannerman, John M. and Ronald Black "A Sixteenth-Century Gaelic Letter", _Scottish Gaelic Studies_, Vol. XIII, Part I, Autumn 1978. In the text of the letter the writer calls himself "Lhl(oinn) ac ic Giolla Eoin" and he signs himself "Misi Lochloinn Mac Giolla Eoin". Though this letter was written near the end of the sixteenth century, there were no major spelling changes from your period through the end of the 16th century, so we believe this spelling is appropriate. The letters in angle brackets indicate reconstructed text where the manuscript is damaged, and parentheses indicate letters omitted by the writer which were filled in by the editor, probably based on the signature. [6] Black, s.n. Africa shows an Anglicized spelling dated circa 1470, which may indicates that the pronunciation of had already begun to shift to \NEE-y@n\.