ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 855
http://www.s-gabriel.org/855
***********************************

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


13 Apr 1998
From: Jaymi Bouziden 

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel.

You asked for information on the Irish feminine names <Muirenn> and
<Muirgheal>, as used between 850 and 1300.

<Muirenn>, pronounced \MEER-yahn\, was a very popular Irish feminine
name early in our period (before 1200).  The name was used by a number
of women in Irish mythology and history; we found a specific example 
in 831.  A later version of the name is <Muireann>, pronounced the same 
as <Muirenn>. [1]

<Muirgheal> is a later form of the Irish feminine given name <Muirgel>,
both pronounced \MEER-eel\.  We found record of women using this name in
854 and 928.  <Muirgel> was also used as an early period man's name. [1]

To complete your name, you will need to add either a patronymic byname or
a descriptive byname to your chosen given name.  The typical Irish woman's
name followed the pattern <given name> ingen <father's given name>.  
<Ingen> means "daughter".  The father's given name is in the genitive, or 
possessive, form (<William's> rather than <William>) and is "lenited", 
a softening of the initial consonant required by Gaelic grammar after a 
feminine noun such as <ingen>.  So, for example, Muirenn the daughter of 
Conall would be known as <Muirenn ingen Chonaill> (after 1200, <Muireann 
inghean Chonaill>), pronounced \MEER-yahn IN-yen KHOHN-eel\.  And although 
an Irish woman would have used a patronymic byname in formal circumstances, 
some women may have used descriptive bynames as well.  A woman with red hair
might have been known as <Muirenn Ruad>, "Muirenn [the] Red", pronounced
early in your period as \MEER-yahn ROO-ahth\ or later as \MEER-yahn ROO-ah\.
(The \th\ in \ROO-ahth\ is pronounced like the \th\ in "this".)  We would
be happy to continue to work with you to develop a suitable byname.

If you would like more information about the construction and grammar of
Irish women's names, you might want to look at these articles on the web.

Cateline de la Mor la souriete. "Choosing an Irish Name". WWW : SCA, 1997.
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/irishnam.html

Krossa, Sharon L. "Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames". WWW : Sharon L. Krossa,
1997.
http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/quick_gaelic_bynames.html

Tangywstyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. "Feminine Names from the Index to
O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae'". WWW : The Academy of Saint
Gabriel, 1996.  (This contains a list of possible descriptive bynames.)
http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html

We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if you have any
more questions or if any of this letter has been unclear.  Talan Gwynek,
Walraven van Nijmegen, and Arval Benicoeur contributed research and 
commentary for this letter.

For the Academy, 

Livia Montgomery

______________________

[1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire. _Irish Names_. Dublin :
The Lilliput Press, 1990.

_______________________