ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2363 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2363 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 11 Oct 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or is an appropriate name for a 16th century Irishman. Here is what we've found. Both names are fine choices. As we discussed already, is a fine name for your period, the most common Gaelic form of [1]. It was pronounced \OAN~\ or \yOAN~\, where the little \y\ represents a lightly pronounced version of the sound at the beginning of the word ; and \N~\ represents the sound of in the French word or the Italian , or of the n-tilde in Spanish words like . We also discussed as a Gaelic form of the modern anglicized name . That was a mistake: is an English form of two different Gaelic names in Ireland: "son of Cainneach" and or "son of Cionaodh or Cionaoth" [2, 3]. The Anglicizations of these two names were often confused. Either of them could have been used literally in your period, i.e. you could have been called because your father's name was . They might also have been used as clan names in Ireland, and that appears to be how [12] was used there: We have found no example of as a given name in Ireland later than the 6th century [4]. It remained in use as a given name much later among Scottish Gaels; an example is recorded in 1581 [5]. was pronounced \mahk KEN-yee\ in Irish in your period [6]. The name was pronounced roughly \mahk KIN-nay\, and our best guess for in your period is \mahk KIN-n@\, where \@\ represents the sound of the in and . The modern form is another English spelling of one or both of these Gaelic names; something like it may have been used in your period. Here are some English renderings of these names from around 1600: for : ; for or : , , and [2]. Your name could have been recorded in a Gaelic form or an English form, but we have seen no evidence of mixtures of the two spelling systems. For example, your name might have been written in a Gaelic document and as in an English one. The two descriptive bynames you are considering are both fine choices. "white, fair, fair-haired, handsome" was rather common in 16th century Irish Gaelic. "grey, grey-haired, aged" is recorded in 1322 and could very well have remained in use into your period [7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. was pronounced \FIN\; was \LEE-ah\. A Gaelic name like or is a fine choice for your period. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Adelaide de Beaumont, Juliana de Luna, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 11 Oct 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Arval Benicoeur, "Concerning the Names Iain, Ian, and Eoin" in The Problem Names Project (WWW: Sharon L. Krossa, 1999). http://www.medievalscotland.org/problem/names/iain.shtml [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.nn. Mac Coinnigh, Mac Cionaodha. [3] 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), entries M1189.1, M1370.6. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C [4] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997), entry U521.1 http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/ [5] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Mackenzie. [6] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 1288, http://www.s-gabriel.org/1288. More precisely, the name is pronounced \mahk KEN~-ee\. [7] Dwelly, Edward, _Faclair gaidhlig: A Gaelic Dictionary_ (Herne Bay [Eng.] E. Macdonald & co., 1902-[11]), s.nn. fionn, liath. [8] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.nn. finn, liath. [9] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Fourteenth to Sixteenth Century Irish Names and Naming Practices" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/lateirish/ [10] Cournane, Mavis, Vibeke Dijkman, and Ivonne Tummers, "Annals of Connacht" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997), entries 1422.5, 1422.7, 1501.6, 1508.6, 1519.17, 1543.11. The first four digits of the entry number are the date for which it was recorded. The byname appears as and in some entries; this is an archaic spelling, which we believe was generally not used in your period. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100011 [11] Annals of Connacht, entry 1322.10. [12] The modern editorial convention is to spell with a lowercase 'm' in literal patronymics and with an uppercase 'M' in clan affiliation bynames. In period they tended not to use captials much at all. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Mari & Arval, 16 Apr 2002: We had originally recommended the spelling rather than because it is the most common spelling in the Annals. See Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Descriptive Bynames, at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/DescriptiveBynames/. However, the Annals are not necessarily the best guide to late-period Gaelic spelling: They seem to prefer archaic spellings. We have therefore recommended instead, the normalized Early Modern Gaelic spelling likely in the 16th century.