ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 890
http://www.s-gabriel.org/890
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From: 
10 Apr 1998


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked us for assistance with a Gaelic name for a 10th century
Irishman.  Specifically, you wanted to know about the name <Cahal>, or
other given names beginning with \k\ or \d\.  You also wanted to know
about patronymics (bynames derived from your father's name) similar to
<Healy> or <Healihy>; about a possible clan name <Owenacht>; and about 
bynames meaning freckled, intelligent, smiley, or brown-haired.  You also
asked about spelling, pronounciations, and documentary forms.

<Cahal> is an anglicized form of <Cathal> [1], which was "one of the most
common names in Ireland in the early Middle Ages" [2], and <Cathal> would
therefore be a fine name for your chosen period.  This would be pronounced
\KAH-thahl\, (with the <th> as in <thin>).  If <Cathal> does not appeal to
you, and you'd like us to suggest some other given names, please feel free
to write us again. 

<O Healy> is a late-period anglicized form of a Gaelic family name <u/a
hEaladaich> "descendent of E/la/dach", pronounced \oh HAY-lah-thikh\ [3]. 
If you want to use a simple patronymic (i.e. a byname that names your
father), you could call yourself <mac E/la/daich> "son of E/la/dach",
pronounced \mahk AY-lah-thikh\ [4]. 

Note: The changed spelling of <E/la/dach> is a Gaelic grammatical form,
required in the family name; the slashes represent accents on the
preceding vowels.  In the pronunciations, \kh\ here represents the
soft <ch> in German <ich> or <nicht>; and \th\ has the sound in <this>.

<Owenacht> looks like an attempt to Gaelicize the surname <Owens>, a Welsh
import to Ireland [3].  We suspect that it isn't period at all; certainly
it is much later than your period, so we recommend against using it. 

Some descriptive bynames were used in Irish Gaelic, though they
supplemented patronymics rather than replacing them.  Of those you asked
about, these are the descriptive bynames we found:

  <dunn>    "brown (haired)" [3]
  <brecc>   "freckled, variegated" [2,5]

We recommend the name <Cathal mac E/la/daich> as the best form among
those you asked about.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.
Arval Benicouer and Talan Gwynek contributed to this letter.

In service,
--Walraven van Nijmegen
Academy of S. Gabriel

[1] Ronan Coghlan, _Irish Christian Names_ (London: Johnston & Bacon,
    1979)

[2] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The
    Lilliput Press, 1990)

[3] Edward MacLysaght, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic
    Press Ltd., 1985)

[4] M. A. O'Brien, ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The
    Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976)

[5] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language_ (Dublin: Royal
    Irish Academy, 1983)