ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 960 http://www.s-gabriel.org/960 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: "Brian M. Scott" 18 Aug 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel. You asked whether the name was an appropriate late 16th century Scottish Gaelic name. The name you choose is almost perfect for your place and time. The only problem with the form given above is that isn't a 16th century Gaelic form of the given name. The standard Gaelic form of your name is , which translates to "Maghnus, son of (the man whose given name is) Donnchadh." The name is pronounced \MAW-nus mahk DOHN-khee\ or \MAW-nus mahk DOHN-a-khee\. (Here \kh\ stands for the rasping sound of in or German .) In Scotland during your period, most records were written in Scots, a language similar to English. Therefore, in a written record your name would probably appear in a Scots form rather than a Gaelic one. We found the following Scots spellings for : [1] Mavnys - 1434 (The here is a spelling variant of .) Mawnis - 1492 Magnus - 1503 Manys - 1504 Mans - 1557 We found the following Scots spellings for [1]: MacDonchy - 1582 M'Donquhy - 1596 Black, in his Surnames of Scotland, notes that was sometimes translated as Duncanson and lists the following Scots spellings for that name: Dunkanson - 1367 Duncaneson - 1413 Dunkesoun - 1582 Dunkysoun - 1603 In some dialects of Gaelic the patronymic was , pronounced roughly \mahk KHOHN-khee\. This variant is recorded in Scots in the following forms: [1] M'Conchie - 1493 McConzochquhy - 1505 Makconoch - 1506 Machonzie - 1510 Makchonze - 1510 McChonzie - 1510 McConche - 1518 M'Condoquhy - 1528, 1532, 1556 M'Conquy - 1540 M'Conquhie - 1543, 1585, 1586 Makconquhye - 1543 M'Conachyw - 1552 Makcongwe - 1550 Makchonachy - 1576 McAndochie - 1578 M'Condochie - 1558 M'Kunuchie - 1597 Combining any of the 16th century Scots forms of with any of the 16th century Scots forms of , , or should provide a written Scots form appropriate to your period. An example of this is . We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Arval d'Espas Nord, Talan Gwynek, and Affrick neyn Kenneoch aided in researching and writing this letter. For the Academy Margaret Makafee ---------------------- References [1] Black, George F. The Surnames of Scotland. New York Public Library, 1946