ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3344
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3344
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From: Coblaith Mhuimhneach 
19 Jun 2008

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for help constructing a Gaelic name for an Irish woman living 
in Ireland between 1300 and 1450 and incorporating a clan affiliation 
byname.  You said that <Siobhan> was your first and <Fionnuala> your 
second choice for a personal name, that <Padraig> was your first and 
<Padraigin> your second choice for your father's name, and that you 
wanted to be part of the clan <Neill>.  You also requested information 
on the name's pronunciation and likely documentary forms.

Throughout this report, a slash represents an acute accent on the 
letter it follows, \@\ is the sound of <a> in <soda> or <about>, and 
\n^\ is the sound of <ny> in <nyah-nyah>.


Gaelic women were usually identified as their fathers' daughters.  
Their names were most often constructed in the form

          <given name> <inghean> <father's given name>

Bynames that indicated clan membership were also popular by your period 
[1].  They usually took the form

           <given name> <inghean Ui/> <clan ancestor's given name>

And compound bynames that referenced the bearer's father and clan were 
common as well.  Their usual form was

           <given name> <inghean> <father's given name> <Ui/> <clan 
ancestor's given name>

Any of these three types of names would be appropriate for you.

The word <inghean> means  "daughter" and was pronounced roughly 
\EEN-y@n\.  <Ui/> means "of a male descendant" and is pronounced 
roughly \ee\.

In all three cases, the father's and/or clan ancestor's name is in the 
genitive case and lenited [2].  The genitive case shows possession:  
Just as the English <John> becomes <John's> in the phrase <John's 
daughter>, so a Gaelic name will change in ways determined by Gaelic 
grammar.  Lenition is a softening of the initial sounds of words that 
is required by Gaelic grammar in some circumstances.  When it is 
indicated in writing it is represented by placing a dot over the letter 
or an <h> following the letter [3].


<Siobha/n> is the Gaelic form of the Anglo-Norman <Jehanne>.  We found 
7 instances of it in your period. [4]  One of the women mentioned was a 
Gael; she died in 1427.  This is a reasonable name for a Gaelic woman 
with Anglo-Norman ties living in the latter half of your period.  It 
would be pronounced roughly \shee-bhahn\, where \bh\ is the sound of 
<b> and <v> in the Spanish words  <lobo> "wolf" and <uva> "grape".  
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.

<Fionnuala> is a modern (post-1700) spelling.  In your period, the 
expected form of this name would be <Fionnghuala>.  This would be a 
good choice for any part of your period.  We found 17 instances of the 
name between 1300 and 1450 [4].  It was pronounced roughly 
\fy@-NOO-@-l@\.

Traditionally, Irish Gaels did not give their children the names of 
prominent saints; such names, which certainly included <Pa/draig>, were 
considered too holy for use.  Instead parents would name their children 
<Maol Pha/draig>, meaning "devotee of [Saint] Patrick", or <Giolla 
Pha/draig>, meaning "servant of [Saint] Patrick".  <Pa/draig> on its 
own did not come into use until well after the Anglo-Norman invasion, 
and was used among Anglo-Norman families before it became popular with 
Gaels [4, 5].  It is a plausible choice for your father's name, but 
more likely in the latter half of the span you've chosen than the 
former.  We found only one instance of it in your period, in 1432, but 
there are also 13th-century instances that confirm the name was not new 
then [4].  <Pha/draig> ("of Patrick", the lenited genitive form you 
need) would be pronounced roughly \FAH-dr@g\.

<Pa/draigi/n> originated as a diminutive (a pet form) of <Pa/draig> and 
became an independant name.  The difference is analogous to that 
between <Robert> and <Robin>.  We found one instance of <Pa/draigi/n> 
in your period, in 1309, but the bearer was Anglo-Norman, not Gaelic 
[4].  <Pha/draigi/n> was used by Gaelic writers recording the names of 
Anglo-Norman men named <Patrick> before it became acceptable in Gaelic 
culture for ordinary people to use the saint's name [5].  It is 
possible that it was not used at all by Gaels in your period.   
<Pha/draigi/n> ("of Pa/draigi/n", the lenited genitive form you need) 
would be pronounced roughly \FAH-dr@geen^\.

<Ne/ill> is the genitive form of <Niall>.  (I.e., it means "Niall's" or 
"of Niall".)  It is very common in clan affiliation bynames in your 
period.  In one source we found instances of its use in this manner in 
1384, 1422, and 1430 [6].  The lenited form would be pronounced roughly 
\N^AYL^\, where  \l^\ is the sound of <li> in Italian <degli> "of the".


In summary, <Fionnghuala inghean Ui/ Ne/ill> would be an excellent 
choice for any part of your period, and any of these names would be a 
good choice for the latter half:

<Siobha/n inghean Pha/draig>
<Siobha/n inghean Ui/ Ne/ill>
<Siobha/n inghean Pha/draig Ui/ Ne/ill>
<Fionnghuala inghean Pha/draig>
<Fionnghuala inghean Pha/draig Ui/ Ne/ill>

The above are the forms we would expect to see in Gaelic-language 
documents from your period.  In Latin documents, <Fionnghuala inghean 
Ui/ Ne/ill> might appear as <Fingola Enynineele>, and <Siobhan/n 
inghean Pha/draig Ui/ Ne/ill> as <Johanna filia Patricii O Neele>.

I hope this letter has been useful.  Please write 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 Mari neyn Brian, Aryanhwy 
merch Catmael, Adelaide de Beaumont, Ursula Georges, Talan Gwynek, and 
Rian mag Uidir.

For the Academy,

Coblaith Mhuimhneach


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References:

[1] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based 
mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish 
Academy, 1983), s.v. ua.

[2] Krossa, Sharon L., "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names (3rd Edition)", 
(WWW: Privately published, 3 May 2007). 
http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/

[3] Krossa, Sharon L., "The Spelling of Lenited Consonants in Gaelic", 
(WWW: Privately published, 19 March 2003). 
http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml

[4] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals" (WWW: 
Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2006). 
http://www.medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/

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

[6] Beechinor, Stephen, Eoin Dunford, Beatrix Fa"rber, Philip Irwin, 
Elva Johnston, Julianne Nyhan, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 
4" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University 
College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries M1373-M1493. 
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100005D/.