ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2248 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2248 ************************************ 30 Mar 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether the name , meaning "Dubhghall, son of Raymond", would be appropriate for a man of Scottish or mixed Scottish/Irish ancestry living between 1300 and 1600. Here is the information we found. Starting in the late 14th century, there were two main languages spoken in Scotland: Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands, and Scots, spoken in the Lowlands, including the royal court and towns. Gaelic was the same language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots was closely related to contemporary English. Names were formed quite differently in the two languages, and the two styles of naming did not mix. Since all of the elements you've chosen are Gaelic, we've assumed you want a Gaelic name. We have evidence that the Gaelic given name was used in Scotland throughout your period, including examples from 1261-1552 [1]. The name was also used in Ireland, almost exclusively in the north [2]. We found two examples of as an Irish given name in your period, spelled in 1356 [3] and in 1397 [4]. Therefore, some form of could have been used by a man born in either Scotland or northern Ireland in your period. The most likely spelling for your period is . is typical of spelling conventions used before 1200 or so; the 1356 example we found is probably not typical. At the beginning of your period, the name was pronounced \DOOV-gh@l\; by the end, it was \DOO-@l\, where \@\ represents the sound of the in and represents the voiced version of , the harsh, rasping sound in Scottish or German . To get , say while vibrating your vocal cords; is to as to , to , or to . ( represents with an accent over it) is an Irish borrowing of the Anglo-Norman given name , i.e. . The Gaelic form appears as early as 1361 and was used through the 16th century [5, 6, 7]. While some sources in your period preserved the earlier spelling , we believe is more typical of your period [7, 8]. The Gaelic phrase meaning "son of Re/amonn" is , where is the genitive form of [9]. (The extra in puts it into the possessive form, like the <'s> in English .) was pronounced \mahk RAY-m@n~\, where represents the sound of the in French or Italian or the n-tilde in Spanish . We were unable to find any form of the name used in Scotland. We are thus unable to recommend the name for a Scottish Highlander. However, would be a fine name for an Irish man in your period, and there was certainly some migration from Ireland to Scotland at that time. In summary, is not a plausible name for a Scottish Highlander. However, is a fine 14th century Irish name. I hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please feel free to contact us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Mari neyn Brian, Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 30 March 2001 -------------------------------------- References: [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Dougal, Dowal, MacDoual. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.n. Dubgall. [3] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, and Ivonne Tummers, "Annals of Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997) Entry 1356.12. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011 [4] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997-98) v. 4, entry M1397.8 http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005D (v. 4) [5] Cournane, Vibeke & Tummers, op. cit., entries 1361.7, 1536.32 [6] O/ Corra/in & Cournane, op. cit.. v. 3 entry M1361.4, v. 5 entry M1521.2, v. 6 entry M1598.10 http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C (v.3) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005E (v.5) http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005F (v.6) [7] O/ Corra/in & Maguire, op.cit., s.n. Re/mann. [8] O/Corrain & Cournane, op. cit., v. 4 entries M1477.5, M1484.5, M1485.17, M1494.7, M1495.15, M1496.1,M1498.3. [9] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). s.n. Mac Re/amoinn