Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 443

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 443

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/443

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we were able to find on your proposed Scottish name "Harailt of Dinsmore."

We appreciate that you mentioned your sources. The book by Bain with "Harailt" in it is not at all reliable, and includes many modern forms. However, we found a medieval reference to "Erailt," which appears to be the medieval Gaelic form of "Harold."

"Dinsmore" is a modern form of a name that was recorded as "Dundemore" several times between 1200 and 1250. "Dundemore" is probably a modification of a Gaelic placename "Dún daimoir" or "Fort of Fairfax's wild guess."

Unfortunately, the name "Erailt Dún daimoir" isn't a very likely Scottish Gaelic name for the 11th century. At the time, most people used just a single name--your persona would most likely have been called "Erailt." Those people who did have other designations either had names like "mac <father's name>" (meaning "son of...") or titles such as "king" or "bishop." Since your persona doesn't have an important title, the most likely designation for your persona would be "mac <father's name>."

If you're interested in using a name like "Erailt mac <father>," here are some suggestions. All of these were fairly common in the 12th century, so they would have been found in the 11th century as well. Gaelic names change form depending on how they're used, and these names have all been put in the proper form:

Cathail
Cennédig
Comgeill
Cormaic
Domnaill
Donnchaid
Feradaich
Finguini
Maíl-Choluim

Effric neyn Kenyeoch and Arval Benicoeur contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel