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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You sent us several questions. We will answer them in three parts of which this is the third. You asked for information about <Mairi Alasdair Ruaidh
MacKenzie>, which you believe to be a 16th century Scottish name. Here is
what we have found.
<Mairi> appears to be a Gaelic adaptation of <Mary>. It may be a modern form; the older Gaelic form, found in Ireland, is <Máire>. (The slash represents an accent on the preceding vowel.) The Irish form was rare before the 17th century; Gaelic culture traditionally did not give saints names to children [1]. Instead, it formed devotional names by compounding with the word <Giolla> (in Irish Gaelic) or <Gille> (in Scottish Gaelic) or <Maol> (in both dialects), all of which mean roughly "servant". The Scottish Gaelic <Maol Mhuire>, pronounced \MOOL VUR-reh\, literally means "servant of Mary" [2]. It was used as a given name.
<Alasdair> is a Gaelic spelling of <Alexander>. The name was introduced in Scotland in the 12th century and has remained popular to the present day. <Alasdair> is a modern spelling. In 1467, it was recorded in Gaelic as <Alaxandair> [3].
<Ruaidh> is a form of the Gaelic word <ruadh> "red". It is the genitive (possessive) form, and is probably used here as part of a patronymic byname, i.e. one that identifies Mairi's father. If so, the word for "daughter" is missing from the name.
<MacKenzie> is a Scots or English spelling of another Gaelic patronymic. Scots is a language closely related to English which was spoken in parts of Scotland from the early Middle Ages onward. The Gaelic form of the name is <mac Coinnich> "son of Coinneach".
Altogether, it isn't clear what the name is intended to mean. As it stands, it isn't correct. If it is intended to mean "Maire, daughter of Alasdair the Red, son of Coinneach", then in Gaelic it should be <Máiri inghean Alasdair Ruaidh mhic Choinnich>, pronounced \MAY-ree NEE-yen AHL-ahs-dare ROW vick KHIN-ee\. In Scots, the same name could be <Mary nein Alaster Roe VcKenzie>.
On the other hand, the name might be intended to mean "Mairi, daughter of Alasdair the Red of Clan MacKenzie". This meaning would imply a modern name, since Scottish Gaels did not take clan surnames until the 18th or 19th century.
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 Nooneyet.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] O/ Corráin, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The
Lilliput Press, 1990).
[2] Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland, (New York: The New York
Public Library, 1986).
[3] A photograph of the "1467 MS", a Gaelic genealogical manuscript, which
is shelf-marked 72.1.1 in the Scottish National Library. Colm Op'Boyle has kindly helped with our transcriptions from this manuscript.