ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3110
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3110
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29 Jun 2006


Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion on the name <Pa/traic UaBranain> 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 <Pa/traic>,
were considered too holy for use. Instead parents would name their
children <Ma/el Pa/traic> meaning "devotee of [Saint] Patrick", or
<Gilla Pa/traic> meaning "servant of [Saint] Patrick". <Pa/traic> on
its own did not come into use until well after the Anglo-Norman
invasion. We therefore recommend that you do not use <Pa/traic>, and
use either <Ma/el Pa/traic> or <Gilla Pa/traic> instead. [1, 2]

Your byname <UaBranain> is almost correct. It would have been two
words, and in your time period <hUa> was the usual form of <Ua>.
There is also an accent missing which makes the byname <hUa Brana/in>.

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 <a> in <sofa> and <about>, \OO\ represents
the sound of <oo> in <moon>, \G\ represents the <g> in <give> and \n^\
represents the sound of <gn> in French <montagne> 'mountain' and
Italian <lasagna>.

Something much closer to <Pa/traic UaBranain> becomes possible in the
13th century.  By then the byname could be written <Ua Brana/in> or
<O/ Brana/in>, and the name <Pa/traic> had begun to be used by itself,
though not quite in that form. Its standardized spelling associated
with this period is <Pa/draig>. Both <Ma/el Pa/traic> and <Gilla
Pa/traic> were also used in the 13th century, but during this period
they were spelled <Maol Pha/draig> and <Giolla Pha/drag>, 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 <boat> and \U*\ represents a vowel
sound not found in English which you can make by pronouncing the <oo>
in <cool> with your lips positioned as if you were saying <ee> as in
<feel>.

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

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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