Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 747

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 747

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/747

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 <Doireanne> as a 15th century Scottish given name. Here is what we have found.

<Doireann> is a late-period spelling of a Gaelic feminine name recorded in Ireland. It was pronounced roughly \DAR-yahn\ [1]. We do not have evidence that the name was used in Gaelic-speaking Scotland, but it is possible that it was. The Gaelic of Ireland and Scotland was a single language in your period, and we do know that some names were shared between the two countries. Existing records of women's names from Gaelic Scotland are very scant, and there were certainly many names in common use about which we know nothing. It is not unreasonable to assume that Irish names made up at least some of the unknown name stock.

A woman of your culture would normally have been known as her father's daughter, using a patronymic byname. For example, if your father's name were <Lachlann>, you would have been called <Doireann inghean Lachlainn> "Doireann daughter of Lachlann", pronounced \DAR-yahn NEE-yen LAHKH-lahn\. The change in spelling of <Lachlann> is required by Gaelic grammar. If you'd like some other suggestions for your father's name and correct patronymics based on them, write us again and give us an idea what you'd like (e.g. first letter, sound).

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 Talan Gwynek and Elsbeth Anne Roth.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] O/ Corráin, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The

Lilliput Press, 1990).