ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3214
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3214
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5 Nov 2006
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Siobhan inghean ui Tigernaich> is an authentic
name for an Irish woman living sometime before 1600.  Here is what we
have found.

With some minor changes, you've chosen a fine name for the 14th to
16th centuries.

The Gaelic name <Siobha/n> is an adoption of the Anglo-French name
<Jehanne>.  (Here, the slash represents an acute accent over the
previous letter.)  The first examples that we have of <Siobha/n> are
from the early 14th century, and the name continued to be fairly
common throughout the rest of our period. [1,2]

For this period, the appropriate spelling of your byname is <inghean
ui/ Thighearnaigh>; the spelling <Tigernaich> is appropriate only for
before c. 1200.  The byname <inghean ui/ Thighearnaigh> is a feminine
form of the clan byname <O/ Tighearnaigh>, which is the root of the
modern clan name <O Tierney>. [3,4]  In English records from the time
of Elizabeth I and James I, this name is found as <O Tierny> and <O
Tearney>, so this makes <Siobha/n inghean ui/ Thighearnaigh> a fine
name for the 14th-16th centuries. [5]  During this period, the name
would have been pronounced roughly \shee-bhahn EEN-y@n ee
HEE-y@r-nee\, where \bh\ is the sound of <b> and <v> in the Spanish
words  <lobo> 'wolf' and <uva> 'grape' [6], and \@\ is the sound of
<a> in <soda> or <about>.

During the 16th century, it's not unlikely that your name would have
been recorded in English records as well as Gaelic records.  We have
therefore researched how the Gaelic name <Siobha/n inghean ui/
Thighearnaigh> might have been rendered in English.  We found examples
of women named <Siobha/n> recorded as <Joaane>, <Joane>, <Juan>, and
<Juane> in English records from the early 17th century. [7]  And as we
noted above, the masculine form of the clan byname is recorded in
late-period English records as <O Tierny> and <O Tearney>.  For a
woman, we recommend just <Tierny> and <Tearney>; in our examples, the
phrase <inghean ui> tended to be dropped from the women's clan bynames
when they are recorded in English. [7]

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 Mari neyn Brian and Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 04 November 2006

--
References:

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

[2] 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/

[3] Beechinor, Stephen, Beatrix Fa"rber, Daithi/ O/ Corra/in, ed.,
"Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 3" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of
Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland,
2000), entries M1172-M1372.
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100005C/.
M1273.1  Flann O/ Tighe_rnaigh tighe_rna Ce_ra

[4] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish
Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3), s.n. (O) Tierney

[5] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and
Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.n. O/
Tighearnaigh

[6] This sound is made by positioning your lips to say a \b\, but
relaxing them slightly so that the air escapes. This sound does not
occur in English, and if you find it difficult to reproduce, \v\ is a
reasonable approximation.

[7] _Annala Rioghachta Eireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by
the Four Masters from the Earliest period to the Year 1616_ edited
from MSS. in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy and of Trinity
College, Dublin with a translation by John O'Donovan, VII Volumes
(Hodges, Smith, and Co: Dublin, 1854), vol. 6, p. 2446 has:
<Juane Ny Teige O'Donovane>, daughter of <Teige O'Donovane>
<Ellen Carthie>, daughter of <Florence Mc Carthie>
<Juan Ny Morough Donovane>, daughter of <Morough Donovane>
<Ellen Donovane>, daughter of <Daniell O'Donovane>
<Joaane Donovane, alias Goggan>
<Joane ny Teige>