ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2809
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2809
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4 Jan 2004
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked for help constructing a name appropriate for a man living 
in the Orkneys from the late 9th to early 10th centuries, with a 
Norse father and an Irish mother.  You said you were interested in 
using the given name <Kormak>, and a byname relating to pigs or boars 
or a patronym based on a Norse form of <Patrick> or <Padraig>, or 
<Ivarsson>.  Here is the information we have found.

Your given name is fine.  The Early Irish <Cormacc> was adopted into 
Old Norse as <Kormakr>, and we find examples of <Kormakr> as early as 
ca. 900. [1]

It is certainly appropriate to have both a patronymic and a 
descriptive byname.  In formal circumstances, you would almost 
certainly have been known by your patronymic, but in other 
circumstances a descriptive is entirely reasonable.

<Patrick> appears to have been adopted into Norse at a fairly late 
date; we don't recommend that you use this name.

<I/varr>, on the other hand, is fine.  (The slash represents an acute 
accent over the previous letter).  <I/varr> was not used much in 
Iceland, but it was common in Norway from an early date.  A Norwegian 
ancestor of the earls of Orkney was supposedly named <I/varr>, though 
this is from material that may not be historically trustworthy.  The 
name was common enough to be adopted into Irish as <I/mar>, and there 
was a king of Northumbria and Dublin of this name sometime in the 
10th century. [1,2]  A patronymic byname based on this given name is 
<I/vars son>.  (The byname was commonly written as two words until a 
fairly late date).

We found a few examples of the preposed byname <Svi/na-> 'swine', 
including an early example that is probably from the 9th C or 
earlier, as well as others from the 12th C. [3]  It's a fine choice, 
and would have followed the given name, e.g. <Svi/na-Kormakr>.

In conclusion, <Kormakr I/vars son> is a fine name, and in Gaelic, 
this name could have been recorded as <Cormacc macc I/mair>.  <Svi/na-
Kormakr> or <Svi/na-Kormakr I/vars son> are also reasonable choices.

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 Juliana de Luna, Arval Benicoeur, and Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 04Jan04

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References:

[1] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n 
Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and 
Kobenhavn: 1931). s.nn. I/varr, Kormakr

[2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ 
(Dublin: 
The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. I/mar

[3] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Personbinamn fra*n Medeltiden_ 
(Uppsala: 1920-21). s.n. Svi/na