ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2926 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2926 ************************************ 17 Oct 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help constructing a name appropriate for an Irish mercenary living before 1600. You said you'd been using the name , but that since this wasn't an authentic choice, you were wondering if or would be correct. Here is the information we have found. In Ireland, was the name of six saints. [2] (The slash represents an acute accent over the previous letter.) However, all these saints lived very early and could even be legendary. We found no evidence that the name was used by anyone else, so we do not recommend this name as a good choice for a medieval Irishman. If you'd like to choose a name appropriate for an Irish Gaelic man, we recommend the following article: "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Given Names" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/ The names and may interest you; we found from 954 to 1559 and from 565 to 1599, so both are fine choices for pretty much any time before 1600. [4] A clan affiliation byname (one indicating what clan you were a member of) is a fine choice for any time after the 10th century, though they were not common until the 11th century. [5] However, we do not recommend the particular clan byname "descendent of Cumhall". We can find no example of other than the father of Finn in Irish legend [2]. Some clans did claim descent from legendary figures, but that doesn't seem to have happened in this case. Your other choice is fine. The clan was a branch of the Ui Fiachrach who by the end of the 16th century were fairly scattered, but found chiefly in Cork and Limerick. [3] While we have no evidence that there was a clan (where is a descriptive adjective meaning 'big, large, great' [4]), we have found other examples of compound clan bynames, such as 'member of the Red Connor clan'. [1] The analogous construction would mean 'member of the Great Cuan clan'. It's a fine choice for your byname. You also wanted to know if it would be appropriate to use a descriptive byname meaning 'the bastard'. While we do have examples of descriptive bynames in medieval Irish names, we have not found any with this meaning. 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 Barak Raz, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Ursula Georges, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Maridonna Benvenuti, Mari neyn Brian, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Juetta Copin, Gunnvor silfraharr, and Mor inghean Chathail. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 17Oct04 -- References: [1] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #2299 discussed Irish clan names and has examples of "Black John's clan" and "Yellow Aodh's clan". The adjectives were added to distinguish different branches of the same clan. http://www.s-gabriel.org/2299 [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Conan, Finn [3] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). s.n. O/ Cuain [4] 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/ [5] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names (3rd Edition)" (WWW: Privately published, 22 Jun 2001) http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/.