Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 501

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 501

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/501

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

Here's the information we have on the name "Caitríona."

"Caitríona" is simply a rendering in Irish spelling of the pronunciation "kah-TREE-nah". It would be appropriate for a Gaelic-speaking woman who lived in Ireland or Scotland aroundw the 15-16th centuries. (1) It's a Gaelic form of the name "Catherine." (In these examples, "í" represents an i with an accent mark). We also found the spelling "Caitrina" in a Scottish Gaelic manuscript from 1467. (2)

This is not a "controversial" name. If you include this letter with the headers, you can use it as documentation for the spellings we've mentioned.

Most Gaelic-speaking women were also identified with a patronymic (a name which tells who their father is). The most common form for late period is "inghean <father's name>," which means "daughter of <father>." "inghean" was pronounced something like "IN-yen" in Ireland and "NEE-yen" in Scotland. If you'd like some suggestions for possible male names to use in a patronymic, let us know and we'd be happy to help.

Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte, Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, and Arval Benicouer 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

(1) O'Corrain and Maguire, "Irish Names."

(2) The 1467 Gaelic genealogical manuscript, as transcribed in Skene, William F., "Genealogies of the Highland Clans, Extracted from Ancient Gaelic MSS.