ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3032 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3032 ************************************ 7 Apr 2005 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael (no address) Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for an Irish man living in Co. Galway in the mid 16th century. Here is the information we have found. Your choice of given name is fine for your period. We found four examples of in the late 16th century, in 1554, 1562, 1588, and 1594. [1] In your period was rendered in English as . [2,3,4] Determining the pronunciation of this name in the 16th century is tricky, because it varied from dialect to dialect. You asked specifically about County Galway; for that region, the best we can recommend is this: \wEE\ or \ooEE\ without rounding and pursing your lips at all. This rough approximation is appropriate for Connacht, but not necessarily other parts of Ireland. In Munster, the name was probably \AY\, and elsewhere it might have been pronounced like \OO\ but without rounding your lips at all [5]. is a modern English form of the Gaelic byname , where the slashes represent acute accents over the previous letters. [2,3] The only examples in and after your period that we have of this byname come from English records, where it is spelled , , and . [2] is the standard Gaelic spelling of the byname for your period; it was pronounced roughly \oa HOO@-l@-khahn^\, with \oa\ as in , \@\ as in or , \kh\ as in Scottish or German , and \n^\ as in French 'mountain'. In sum, is a fine name for a 16th-century Gaelic man. In English, the same man might have been called , , or . 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 Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Juhetta Copin. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 07 April 2005 -- References: [1] 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/ [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). s.nn. mac Aoidh, O/ hUallacha/in [3] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.nn. A/ed, Uallacha/n [4] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). s.n. Aodh [5] Woulfe, op. cit., pp. XLII-XLVI