Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 532

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 532

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/532

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

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion of <Sine ni Guinne of Kilernan> as an early period (500-1000) Scottish name. We apologize for the time it has taken to answer your question; we've been very thorough, and we hope you find the wait worthwhile. Here is what we have found.

Before we start, we should explain that the Academy of Saint Gabriel researches the historical plausibility of medieval names, not whether or not any particular name may be registered with the SCA. These are rather different questions. Our letter will explain what we found out about the historical plausibility of the name you chose.

Unfortunately, according to our research, <Sine ni Guinne of Kilernan> is not a name that could have been used by someone at any time during the period of the Society. There are a number of reasons for this conclusion; we'll explain them all below. The good news is that we can help you construct a historically plausible name using <Sine ni Guinne of Kilernan> as a starting point, but this will involve substantial changes to the name. Exactly what changes you would have to make will depend on what aspects of your proposed name, period, location, etc., are most important to you.

Explaining all of these ideas will take a while, but we think that you will find all of this information useful.

Here are the problems with your name as it stands:

We can offer you several alternative names which are appropriate for different times and places in period Scotland. Each one preserves some parts of your name and persona, but compromises in other ways. We hope that one of these options will appeal to you.

<Sinech ingen Gunni> is an appropriate name for a 9th or 10th century Gael living in Caithness, whose father's given name was <Gunni>. <Sinech> is pronounced roughly \SHEEN-yehkh\ (\y\ as in <yes>, and \kh\ representing the hard, rasping "ch" sound in Scottish <loch> and German <Bach>). But <Sinech> is not a form of <Jane>; it is an independent name recorded in early Ireland [3]. We don't have evidence that it was used in Gaelic Scotland, but it may have been: The two countries spoke the same language, had close cultural ties, and shared at least some names. The byname <ingen

Gunni>, pronounced \IN-yen GOON-yee\ (the \OO\ as in <book>), means
"daughter of Gunni". It would not indicate any affiliation with Clan Gunn.

The same name would be appropriate for a late 12th or early 13th century Gael from Caithness whose father was named <Gunni>. The name is somewhat more plausible for this period, since we know that <Gunni> was used in late 12th century Scotland. However, it would still mean "Sinech, daughter of Gunni" and show no connection to any clan.

For a later period persona -- 16th or 15th and possibly 14th century -- you could use <Seónaid inghean Ghuinne>. This name would be appropriate once again for a Caithness Gael, the daughter of a man named <Guinne>, and it still shows no particular clan affiliation. <Seónaid> \SHO-nitch\ is a hypothetical late-period Gaelic form of the English/Scots name <Jonet>, which is a diminutive of <Joan> and therefore related to <Jane>. <inghean> \NEE-yen\ means "daughter", and <Ghuinne> \GHOON-yeh\ is the lenited, genitive form of <Gunne>; so <inghean Ghuinne> means <Gunne's daughter>. (Lenition is a softening of the initial consonant of a word which takes places in some grammatical circumstances in Gaelic. It represents a change in pronunciation, here from \g\ to \gh\. \gh\ is a voiced version of \kh\, which we described earlier.) As with <Sinech>, we don't have direct evidence that <Seónaid> was used in late period Scotland. It was used soon after our period, and may well have been adopted in our period from the popular Scots name <Jonet> [9]. So, <Seónaid inghean Ghuinne> satisfies your interest in having a period Scottish Gaelic name related to <Jane>. Unfortunately, it introduces some uncertainty at the other end: We don't have evidence that <Guinne> was still being used as a Gaelic given name in these late centuries.

A Scots name is another possibility. <Jannet of Kyllarnane> or <Jonet de Kyllarnane> would be fine names for a 16th century Scots-speaking woman
living near Inverness. This is not a Gaelic name, of course, but we do have record of <Jannet>, <Jonet>, and <Kyllarnane> from 16th century Scots documents [4, 5]. You could even add the surname <Gun>, as in <Jonet Gun of Kyllarnane>. The Scots surname <Gun> is unrelated to the Highland Clan Gunn; but it is recorded in 1565 in Sterling [2].

If none of these possibilities suits you, we'd be happy to keep working with you. We could suggest names suitable for an Irish woman in various periods or we could help you create a new name from scratch to match whatever place and period you wish. However, to be of most help to you, we need to know whether it is more important to preserve certain aspects of your persona, or certain elements of your name.

For more information about Scottish Gaelic naming, we recommend the articles "Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames" and "A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names", available on the web at

http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scot_name_resources.html

You expressed concern that it would be very difficult to change your name, since you have used it for many years. One of our Academy members was known in the SCA for many years as Keridwen o'r Mynydd Gwyrdd. She held kingdom office under that name, received many awards, and published articles. She changed her name to something a bit more historically accurate, Keridwen ferch Morgan Glasfryn, which she used for three years, and then changed again to a more historically accurate name, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. She has reported that she had little trouble with the change of name, and that people did not find it too difficult to adjust to calling her by her new name even though she had been widely known by the old name. Societyfolk understand that each of us gets to pick her name, and most of us adapt to new names quite quickly.

We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. We were assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Lindorm Eriksson, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Alan Fairfax, and Zenobia Naphtali.

For the Academy,

Effric neyn Kenyeoch Vc Harrald and Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Way of Plean, George, and Romilly Squire, _Scottish Clan & Family

Encyclopedia_, (Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), p. 399.

[2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland_ (Edinburgh: Birlinn,

1993), s.n. <Gunn>.

[3] O/ Corráin, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_, 2nd ed.

(Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. <Sinech>, <Sibán>.

[4] Johnston, James R. Place-Names of Scotland_ (London: John Murray,

1934; re-printed East Ardsley, England: S. R. Publishers, 1970), s.v. <Killearnan>.

[5] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish

Records" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/scottishfem.html

[6] Royal Irish Academy, Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on

Old and Middle Irish materials (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983).

[7] Withycombe, E.G., The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd

ed. (Oxford University Press).

[8] Jacobsen, L. & E. Moltke, _Danmarks Runeindskrifter_, 3

vols. (Kobenhavn 1941-42), nr 239.

[9] Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte, "Early 16th Century Scottish Town

Women's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996).