ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2643 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2643 ************************************ 30 Dec 2002 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 13th to 15th century Irishwoman. The slash represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. is a modern Irish spelling of a name that was spelled in your period and earlier. In all of its spellings, the name is pronounced \MEER-yeen~\, where \n~\ represents the sound of the in French or Italian . This rare name was apparently used by both men and women in early medieval Ireland [1, 2], but we have found no evidence that it remained in use as late as the 13th century. It seems to be a reasonable choice for the 10th century or before, but if you want a name well-suited to your period, then we recommend you choose a different given name. You can find several lists of appropriate names at: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/irish.shtml In particular, you may find this page useful: http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ Your surname is a fine choice for your period, but the spelling you've used mixes early and late spelling conventions. The precursor to the modern English surname was spelled or before 1200 or so, later [3, 4, 6]. The initial in is not added in the feminine form of the name, so a woman of that clan would use the surname or , which was pronounced \EEN-y@n ee AH-v@r-tee\. The symbol \@\ stands for the sound of the in . Clan affiliation bynames of this sort came into use in the 10th century [5], so is a reasonable 10th century name. 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 Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 30 Dec 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Muirgen. They mention an early abbot and say "As a female name, its most famous bearer is the half-pagan, half-christian Muirgen, also known as Li/ Ban... According to story, she lived for three hundred years in the waters of Lough Neagh..." This mermaid is not evidence that the name was used by real people; but the phrase "its most famous bearer" implies that the authors found other examples of the name. [2] O/ Riain, Pa/draig, ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1985). He lists an Irish priest named . [3] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3), s.n. O Haverty. [4] O'Corrain and Maguire s.n. A/baratach. [5] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. ua. [6] Thurneysen, Rudolf, _A Grammar of Old Irish_, trans. by D.A. Binchy & Osborn Bergin (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975). The addition of the initial appears in Middle Irish, sometime after c.900. It appears erratically in the Annals of Inisfallen, written in the later 12th century.