ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3110 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3110 ************************************ 29 Jun 2006 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for our opinion on the name for an Ulster Irishman in the 11th century. Here is what we have found. Throughout this letter a '/' indicates an acute accent on the previous letter. In your period the Irish did not give their children the names of prominent saints; such names, which certainly included , were considered too holy for use. Instead parents would name their children meaning "devotee of [Saint] Patrick", or meaning "servant of [Saint] Patrick". on its own did not come into use until well after the Anglo-Norman invasion. We therefore recommend that you do not use , and use either or instead. [1, 2] Your byname is almost correct. It would have been two words, and in your time period was the usual form of . There is also an accent missing which makes the byname . For an 11th century Irishman living in Ulster we can recommend either of these names: Gilla Pa/traic hUa Brana/in Ma/el Pa/traic hUa Brana/in These names would have been pronounced roughly: \GIL-l@ PAH-dr@k OO@ BRAH-nahn^\ \MAL PAH-dr@k OO@ BRAH-nahn^\ \@\ represents the sound of in and , \OO\ represents the sound of in , \G\ represents the in and \n^\ represents the sound of in French 'mountain' and Italian . Something much closer to becomes possible in the 13th century. By then the byname could be written or , and the name had begun to be used by itself, though not quite in that form. Its standardized spelling associated with this period is . Both and were also used in the 13th century, but during this period they were spelled and , respectively. So any of the following names would be acceptable choices for a 13th century Irishman: Pa/draig Ua Brana/in Pa/draig O/ Brana/in Giolla Pha/draig Ua Brana/in Giolla Pha/draig O/ Brana/in Maol Pha/draig Ua Brana/in Maol Pha/draig O/ Brana/in These would be pronounced roughly: \PAH-dr@g OO@ BRAH-nahn^\ \PAH-dr@g OA BRAH-nahn^\ \GIL-l@ FAH-dr@g OO@ BRAH-nahn^\ \GIL-l@ FAH-dr@g OA BRAH-nahn^\ \MU*L FAH-dr@g OO@ BRAH-nahn^\ \MU*L FAH-dr@g OA BRAH-nahn^\ \OA\ represents the vowel sound in and \U*\ represents a vowel sound not found in English which you can make by pronouncing the in with your lips positioned as if you were saying as in . I hope this letter has been useful. Please write to 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Ari Ansson, Ursula Georges, Talan Gwynek and Mari neyn Brian. For the Academy, Eleyne de Comnocke 25 June 2006 ----------- References: [1] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2006) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/ s.nn Gilla Pa/traic, Ma/el Pa/traic, Pa/draig [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Doirend