ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2686 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2686 ************************************ 05 Apr 2003 From: Sara L Friedemann Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for an Irishman living in the 10th century. Here is the information we have found. Your name is fine with just a few changes. is not a correct spelling; the name was spelled or in your period. [1,2] (Here, the slashes represent acute accents over the previous letters). We find the name recorded in 922, 947, and 949, right in your period. [3] It is pronounced \EY-dhahn\, where \EY\ rhymes with , and \dh\ is the sound of in or . We found the masculine name in 881 and 903. [3] It is a fine choice for your father's name. The byname 'son of Suibne' is found in 903 as well. [4] It is pronounced \mahk SOOBH-n~@\, where \@\ is the sound of in or , \n~\ is the sound of in , and \bh\ is somewhere between and , and it is the sound of those letters in Spanish 'wolf' and 'grape'. [6] The only possibly problematic part of your name is , 'long-haired', which we don't find until 1151. [3] We're not sure this was in use in your period or not, and therefore we cannot recommend it as the best recreation. There is another word with the same meaning, , which was used during your period. [5] While we haven't found used as a byname, again, it isn't an unreasonable choice. was pronounced \KEE-bh@kh\ and was pronounced \MOHNG-g@kh\ in your period; \oh\ is the sound of in , and \kh\ is the sound of in Scottish or German . Since you said that the byname was the most important part of your name, you may be interested in moving your period to the 12th century, when was definitely used. We find the byname in 1159 as well [4]. appears to have fallen out of use by the 12th century, but the related name is found numerous times throughout the 12th century [3], and it is a fine choice. Depending on the dialect, we believe was pronounced \ADH\, \EDH\, \AGH\, or \EGH\, where \GH\ is the voiced version of \kh\ above, and \A\ is the vowel in . is an excellent name for a 10th century Irish man; unfortunately, someone else has already registered this name with the SCA College of Arms. [7] is also plausible for the 10th century. For the 12th century, is fine. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Julie Stampnitzky, and Iago ab Adam. For the Academy, -Argantgui filia Catmaili, 05Apr03 -- References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990) s.n. Aedan [2] Arval Benicoeur, "Problem Names: Aidan, Ae/da/n, Aodh, and the Like"(WWW: Medieval Scotland, 1999). http://www.medievalscotland.org/problem/names/aidan.shtml [3] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/ [4] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/. U U903.3 Fogartach m. Suibne, ri Ciaraidhe U U1159.3 mac Suibne h-Ui Ghalan [5] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). s.v. mongach. [6] This sound is made by putting the lips together as if to say \p\ or \b\, and then relax them slightly so that air can escape between them. The resulting sound is \bh\ if you simultaneously hum (i.e., vibrate your vocal cords). [7] A/eda/n mac Suibne was registered in February of 2001 via An Tir.