ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2639 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2639 ************************************ 25 Mar 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a mid-16th century Scottish Gaelic woman. Earlier, you had inquired about a name for a woman from 15th-16th century Caithness that combined a form of with the family name . Here is what 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. Therefore, the culture you choose for your persona will determine how your name should be constructed. Although Caithness is in the far north of Scotland, parts of it were Scots-speaking in the 16th century. The Norse-speaking population had been displaced a couple centuries earlier by Gaels, who were in turn being displaced by Lowlanders, who had established a burgh at Wick just before 1400. The conversion of Caithness to Lowland culture accelerated in the 17th century [1]. If you want a name suitable for a woman from 16th century Caithness, then either a Scots or Gaelic name would be appropriate; and it is not unlikely that such a woman might have had her name rendered into both languages on some occasions, and might well have been bilingual. We will therefore discuss both possibilities. Some form of the Gaelic feminine given name was used by Gaels in 16th century Scotland: It appears in Latin and Scots documents in a variety of spellings. We have not found a Gaelic spelling in pre-1600 Scottish documents, but in contemporary Irish documents it is and [2]. The name was pronounced \AH-fr@k\, where \@\ represents the sound of the in . is a modern Scottish Gaelic form of [9]; it was borrowed into Gaelic by the 14th century. The following names of Gaels, rendered into other languages, appear in Scottish sources [3, 4]: John M'Henri c.1370-80 Gilcrist Makhenry 1480 Henry McCaylan 1591-96 Again, we have not found a Gaelic spelling of this name in period Scotland. It appears in Irish documents most often as but occasionally as [5, 6]: Domnall mac Enri/g meic Eoghain 1498 Feidhlim mac Enrig Oic 1498 Art mac Enri mic Eoccain Ui/ Neill 1502 Brian mac Enri mic Seain I Neill 1567 Enri mac Seain I Neill 1526 Enri mac Neill mic Briain 1526 The slash in some of these names represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. Both and were pronounced \EN-ree\. In summary, is a correct Irish Gaelic spelling of this name; it might also have been used in Scotland, where it would have been pronounced \AH-fr@k NEE-y@n EN-ree\. The name might have been recorded in a Scots document as [10]. You inquired originally about the name . As we explained, this name is not Gaelic, but something very similar could have been used by a Lowland woman in Caithness. There could well have been Lowlanders surnamed in 16th century Caithness, though perhaps not in this spelling: It appears in 16th century Scottish records as , , , , and others similar [7]. The name was used occasionally in Lowland culture in this period, as well [8]. So is probably a fine choice for a Scots-speaking woman in 16th century Caithness (but obviously not the same woman as the Gael ). 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 Mari neyn Brian, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 25 Mar 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] McNeill, Peter G. B., and Hector L. MacQueen, Editors, _Atlas of Scottish History to 1707_ (Edinburgh: The Scottish Medievalists and Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, 1996). [2] Sharon L. Krossa, "Scottish Gaelic Given Names" (WWW: privately published, Mar 2003). http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/ [3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Machendrie. [4] Maragaret Makafee, "Names from Papers Relating to the Murder of the Laird of Calder" (WWW: self published). http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~grm/calder.html [5] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, and Ivonne Tummers, "Annals of Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997), entry 1498.6. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011 [6] Mavis Cournane, Donnchadh O/ Corra/in, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 5" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1998), entries M1502.9, M1526.8, 1526.10, M1567.2, and others. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005E/ [7] Black s.n. Henderson (2). [8] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish Records" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/scottishfem/ [9] Morgan, Peadar, _Ainmean Chloinne: Scottish Gaelic Names for Children_ (Scotland: Taigh na Teud Music Publishers, 1989), s.n. Eanraig. [10] Cf. , c.1470, Black s.n. Africa.