ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2747 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2747 ************************************ 23 Apr 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 14th century Irishman. Here is what we've found. is a fine choice for your period [1, 2, 3]. The slash in the name represents an acute accent mark over the preceding letter. It was pronounced roughly \TCHEE@R-nahn\, where \@\ stands for the sound of the in . was relatively common in early medieval Ireland, but we know of no example of it as a given name after the 9th century [4, 5]. We do not recommend using it for the father of a man living in the 14th century. If you'd like to choose a more appropriate name for your father, we recommend you use the web article that is our reference [2] in this letter. Once you've chosen a name, feel free to write again to verify the appropriate spelling, grammar, and pronunciation for your period. was a given name in use in Ireland up to the 12th century [6, 7]. One man of this name was apparently the namesake of the clan (anglicized O Roarty), which is mentioned in 16th century Gaelic records and has existed at least since the 15th century [8, 9]. The change in the spelling of the last syllable, from <-tach> to <-taigh>, is required by Gaelic grammar: It puts the name into its possessive form, just like the <'s> in English . It is plausible that the clan existed in your period as well. The form of the clan name that was used as a surname is , pronounced \oo@ RO-var-tee\. If you include your father's given name in your name, as in , then Irish grammar requires to become , pronounced \ee\. In summary, is a very reasonable 14th century name, and would mean "Tighearna/n of the Ui/ Robhartaigh clan". is not a good choice for your father's name in this period. With a more appropriate name for your father, a name like would also be a fine choice; it means "Tighearna/n son of Cormac Ua Robhartaigh". If you especially want to use , you could shift your period back to the 8th or 9th century. If that option interests you, write us again and we'll give you the details. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Mari neyn Brian, and Maridonna Benvenuti. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 23 Apr 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Tigerna/n. It cited 10th and 12th century examples and says that name remained in use among the O Rourkes until the modern period. [2] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Given Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2002). The article lists 13th and 14th century instances of . http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine [3] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2045, which mentions 15th and 16th century examples of found in the Annals of Connacht. http://www.s-gabriel.org/2045 [4] O/ Corra/in and Maguire s.n. Ba/eta/n. [5] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2177, which mentions examples of in the 6th through 9th centuries, but none later. http://www.s-gabriel.org/2177 [6] O/ Corra/in and Maguire s.n. Robartach. [7] Our search of the Irish Annals turned up no example of as a given name after 1200. [8] 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), entry M1542.6. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005E/ [9] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3), s.n. (O) Rafferty.