ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 956 http://www.s-gabriel.org/956 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: 1 Jun 1998 Greetings, Here's the information we found for the name "William O'Mannion of York," which you wanted to use for an for a late 13th or early 14th century Anglo-Irish man who was raised by an English father. Taken individually, the parts of your name can all be found in your period. We looked up forms of your name in both English and Gaelic. is an English name that was introduced to Ireland by the Normans. The usual Gaelic form is . We know that it was reasonably common by the 1300's, and was probably used for some time before that. (1) (the slashes represent accents) is an Irish family name that is found in Galway as early as 1135. There are few examples of English forms of Irish names before 1600, but we did find the English forms , , and from around 1600. (2) was a major city in northern England. The spelling is found as early as 1324. (3) Although each part of your name is found in medieval records, there is no way to combine them all together. In addition, your name does not fit your persona story. is the name of an Irish family. However, if your persona were raised by an English father, he would (by definition) not be part of an Irish family. Thus, we don't see any way that your persona, as you described him, could have had any form of the name . If your persona is living in Ireland, it would be reasonable for him to be called . If you wanted an Irish name, you might be known as ("William the Englishman"). If your persona is living in England, we found a lot of forms of "Irish" including (3) * Iries (1169) * le hyreis (1227) * le Irish (1356) and (4) * Irland (1255) * le Yreys (1275) * de Yrlond (1275) * de Irelond (1327) * de Irlond (1327) * le Irisshe (1330-31) * le Irych (1335-36) * Iryssh (1349-50) * de Yrlaunde (1351-52) Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Miguel Santos de Borja, Felix MacAvaty, and Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn contributed to this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and we would be happy to discuss other ideas for your name if you aren't satisfied by these. Let us know if you have other questions. In service, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel (1) O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). (2) Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), 36, 164. (3) Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). (4) Ewen (I don't have access to the Web to check the reference; I'll fix it in the final draft.)