Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 606

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 606

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/606

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 whether <Teine ni Shea> was a correct Irish name for sometime between 1200 and 1500. Here's what we found.

<Teine> is the modern Scottish and Irish Gaelic word for "fire." We found no evidence that it was used in period as a given name. The word is pronounced \CHAIN-yeh\, where \CHAIN\ is just like the English word. If you are interested in a historically correct name, you will need to change your given name.

<ni> is a modern Irish Gaelic spelling; in your period you would have used <inghean> (daughter of) or <inghean uí> (daughter of a male descendent of). There is evidence that, in late period, <inghean uí> was pronounced like <ní>, e.g. as \nee\, but this pronunciation wasn't reflected in the Irish spelling until after period.

"Shea" is a modern anglicization of the Irish name "O/ Séaghdha [1]; there was of a sept in County Tipperary with this name in the 13th century. <O/ Séaghdha> is a masculine form of the byname; for a woman, the proper form is <inghean uí Séaghdha>, which means "daughter of the descendent of Séaghdha;" it is pronounced \IN-yen ee HAY-a\, or, in late period, \nee HAY-a\.. If you want your name to mean "daughter of Séaghdha", then it should be <inghean Séaghdha>; this is pronounced \IN-yen HAY-a\.

The thought of changing a long-used society name can be daunting, but it's actually a lot easier to change your name than many people believe. Mostly it takes the perserverence to remind folks that you have a new name. For example, one of the members of the Academy was a peer and a senior member of the College of Arms for many years, using the name <Keridwen o'r Mynydd Gwyrdd>. She had spent years studying medieval Welsh names, and had long ago discovered that her own name was inauthentic. So she changed it to <Tangwystyl ferch Morgant Glasfryn>, and announced the change publically and reminded people to use her new name. It took her a while to get everyone to use the new name, but most people were clued in within a few months.

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. Effric neyn Kanyeoch vc Ralte, Arval d'Espas Nord, Alan Fairfax, Tangwystyl ferch Morgant Glasfryn, and Talen Gwynek aided in researching and writing this letter.

In Service
Margaret Makafee


References

[1] MacLysaght, Edward. The Surnames of Ireland. Sixth edition. Irish Academic Press Limited, Dublin. 1991