ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2718 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2718 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: "Lisa and Ken Theriot" 18 Jun 2003 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for an Irish woman living sometime before 1600. You mentioned you were pronouncing it like "KAY lin O Kelly". Here is the information we have found. is an alternate spelling of a modern Irish name that is usually spelled [1, 2]. It developed from a name used in early Ireland, (the slash represents an acute accent over the previous letter); accordingly, the modern form is sometimes spelled [3]. The only example we have found is an early Irish saint [1, 2, 3]. We don't know exactly when the saint lived, but we believe it was probably in the 6th or 7th century. We find a mention of the saint and a place named after her in 13th century Irish records [4]. 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\. Unfortunately, we have no other examples of the name. Many names from the Old Irish period fell out of fashion until they were revived in modern times; may be such a name. It is plausible, however, that a woman living in 7th century Ireland, roughly a contemporary of the saint, might also have been named . There are a number of names used in Gaelic prior to 1600 that appear similar to , but they are all exclusively masculine names, including , , , and . If you'd like to know more about any of these names, they are included in a past Academy report available on the web: http://www.s-gabriel.org/2635 You might like to know that , the given name underlying the byname you asked about, was also used as a feminine name in early Ireland; it appears as the name of a daughter of a king who died in 732 [2]. We don't know how late the name continued in use by women, but we believe it is appropriate later than , though probably not beyond the 10th century or so. was pronounced roughly \K(y)EL-@kh\. (Here (y) stands for a lightly-voiced \y\ sound as in which is combined with the \K\ sound, as at the beginning of the word . @ represents the sound of in and and \kh\ is the raspy sound in the Scottish word or German .) If you'd like to look at more possible given names, we recommend this article: Index of Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Given Names http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ (or more correctly ) is an Irish family name (or clan affiliation byname); this, however, is a masculine form. (This spelling also reflects changes in written Gaelic that took place about 1200, and is therefore only appropriate after that date.) A man of this clan could have been known as , which literally means "Domhnall the male descendent of Ceallach" and was used to mean "Domhnall of the O/ Ceallaigh clan". His sister called could have been , literally "A/ine the daughter of the male descendent of Ceallach" but understood to mean "A/ine of the O/ Ceallaigh clan". The phrase was pronounced roughly \EEN-y@n ee CHEL-ee\. The Ui/ Ceallaigh clan appears in Irish records at least as early as the 11th century [5]. Prior to 1200, the usual spelling of the feminine form of the byname was , and the pronunciation was likely closer to \EEN-y@n ee CHEL-ey\. Clan affiliation bynames appear in Ireland from the 10th century; we don't believe that a name of this type is appropriate any earlier, so it's not a good match for . Medieval Gaelic documents almost invariably record a woman by a given name plus a patronymic, a byname that identifies her as her father's child. Her name might also include additional bynames for further identification, but we would be very surprised to find a medieval Gaelic woman recorded in Gaelic without a patronymic. Since was a very popular masculine name in early Ireland, it would be a fine name to choose for your father [6]. is a plausible name for a 7th century Irish woman. (The change of to involves two grammatical alterations: the change of to reflects a softening of the initial consonant, called lenition, that sometimes occurs in Gaelic naming; the addition of the places the name in the genitive, or possessive, case and functions much like changing to [7].) In the 7th century was likely pronounced \EEN-y@n CHEL-@ch\. If the clan affiliation name is of primary importance to you, we recommend you choose a given name appropriate for the 11th century or later, and we also recommend you choose a name for your father. An 11th century woman called whose father was named and belonged to the Ui/ Chellaig clan might be recorded as , but most often her name would include her patronymic, . You can find a list of masculine names here: Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Given Names http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/ If you select a name for your father and are unsure how to form a patronymic, or if you would like to know how the name was pronounced, please write again and we'll be happy to help you. 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, Julie Stampnitzky, Mari neyn Brian, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 18 June 2003 References: [1] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.n. Caoilinn. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Ca/elfind, Cellach. [3] Woulfe, Patrick, _Irish Names for Children_ (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1974), s.n. Caoilfhionn. [4] Beatrix Fa"rber, et. al., "Annals of Loch Ce/" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2003). Entry LC1224.15 reads, "Goill & Muimhnigh do dol fa Termann Caoil Finn, & do cuiredh a/r na n-Gall tre/ fertuibh Cail Fhind." (Translated as, "The Foreigners and Momonians attacked Termann-Caelfhinn; and a slaughter of the Foreigners was committed through the miracles of Caelfhinn.") The first four digits of the entry number are the year of the events recorded. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100010A/index.html [5] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh, ed., "Annals of Tigernach" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1996). Entries T1030.18, T.1037.7, 1074.2, 1134.7 show members of the Ui/ Ceallaigh who were chiefs or archbishops of the Ui/ Maine (a sort of super-clan). The first four digits of the entry number are the year of the events recorded. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100002/ [6] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/irish100 [7] If you are interested in the specifics of lenition, we recommend this article: "The Spelling of Lenited Consonants in Gaelic" http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 19 April 2004: Corrected the pronunciation of .