ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2691 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2691 ************************************ From: "Lisa and Ken Theriot" 5 Jun 2003 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Gaelic-speaking woman, the daughter of an Irish woman and a Scotsman, living in Scotland between 1200 and 1450. Here is the information we have found. Throughout your period, the two main languages spoken in Scotland were Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands and Western Isles; 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. English was also spoken in Ireland, having been brought in by Anglo-Norman settlers beginning in the 12th century. Names were formed quite differently in the two languages, and the two styles of naming did not mix. There were differences even between the names and naming styles of Irish Gaels and Scottish Gaels. You specified that you wanted a Gaelic name, so we'll concentrate on the Gaelic naming conventions. , usually spelled (where the slash represents an acute accent over the preceding letter), is a fine Irish Gaelic name; we find it recorded several times in your period in Ireland [1]. came to be associated with the non-Gaelic name , though the names are only related by similarity of sound [12]. Unfortunately, we have not found any examples of this name in Scotland. It's possible the name wasn't used, and it's also possible that it simply wasn't recorded in this form. The written language of Scotland before the 14th century was Latin. Scots rose as a written language in the late 14th century and became increasingly important over the next two centuries; Latin remained in use for various kinds of documents into the 17th century. Gaelic was sometimes used as a written language in Scotland from at least the 12th century, but few Scottish Gaelic records survive; accordingly, we usually find Gaelic names recorded in different ways than someone writing in Gaelic would have used. We find several Scottish Gaelic-speaking women recorded in Latin documents during your period using a form of , including [2]: Ana Donaldi 'Ana, daughter of Donald', 1397 Anna de Insulis 'Anna of the Isles', 1432/3 We do not know what the underlying Gaelic form of the name was; it's possible that these women were named , but it's equally possible that their names were actually some form of . Similar forms were in use in the Scots-speaking population, and could well have been borrowed into the Gaelic naming pool [3]. All we can say for certain is that Gaelic women in your period were definitely using a name which was interpreted in Latin records as and the like. The byname means 'daughter of Uilliam'. Patronymics, or bynames based on your father's name, were used literally in Gaelic in your period. We find the name recorded several times in your period in Irish Gaelic records [4, 5]. also appears in a 1467 Scottish Gaelic genealogy [6]. The name appears as the first generation, so presumably that man was alive in 1467; it also appears as the name of his father and his great-grandfather, so it appears that the name was in use by Scottish Gaelic speakers during your period. We find Latin patronymic bynames based on recorded in Scotland in your period as follows [7]: Johannes filius Wilelmi, 1317 John Wilelmi, 1434 is the genitive, or possessive case, of , the Latin form of . The genitive case functions in the same way as changing to . is the Latin word for 'son'; the feminine form is 'daughter'. Since we know that some Gaelic feminine name was recorded as , we can be sure that a Scottish Gaelic woman in your period could have been identified in a Latin document as or ; but again, we aren't sure what her name would have been in Gaelic. The byname element indicated very different things in Ireland and Scotland during your period. In Ireland, it was understood as 'female member of the mac Ne/ill clan'; in Scotland, where clan membership does not seem to have been included in a person's Gaelic name until well after 1600, it would indicate that your grandfather's name was , and that your father's full name was [8, 9]. (.) appears in the same genealogy noted above for , though many generations back; a man named also appears in other Gaelic records from the 14th century [10]. It is therefore a plausible name for your grandfather. It was common English practice to Latinize as [11]. It's possible that a Latin record might give your name as 'Anna daughter of William son of Niall'; is the genitive of . In summary, is a fine Irish Gaelic woman's name for your period. We are less certain about recommending it for Scotland. A name recorded in Latin as would be perfectly plausible for a Gaelic-speaker in Scotland for your period, though it might or might not reflect an underlying Gaelic name like . 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. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Mari neyn Brian, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 5 June 2003 References: [1] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2000-2002). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/ [2] Krossa, Sharon L., "Scottish Gaelic Given Names" (WWW: privately published, 2000-2002). http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/ [3] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish Records" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). The feminine given name is recorded in 1408. We aren't sure whether this reflects a true usage of or whether it was used as a pet form of , which was a very common name. In either case, it's possible that Gaels adopted a similar form into their naming pool. http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/scottishfem/ [4] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Given Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2002). Several of the men named are Anglo-Norman; a man recorded as probably wrote his name . However, one example, , dated to 1447, is clearly a Gaelic-speaker. http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine [5] Stephen Beechinor, Beatrix Fa"rber, Daithi/ O/ Corra/in, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 3" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries M1172-M1372. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C/ Entries include: M1311.2 Uilliam Mac Giolla Arra/ith M1316.2 Uilliam mac Aodha O/icc Ui/ Fhe_rghail M1321.7 Uilliam Mac Gille Finde/n M1340.2 Uilliam mac Donnchadha Muimhnig Ui/ Cheallaigh M1344.6 Uilliam mac Mathgamna Mhe/g Raghnaill These men all appear to be Gaelic-speakers. The first four digits of the entry number are the year of the events recorded. [6] Skene, William F., "Genealogies of the Highland Clans, Extracted from Ancient Gaelic MSS.: 1. Gaelic MS. Written circa A.D. 1450, with a Translation,", pp 50-62, and "Genealogies of the Highland Clans, Extracted from Ancient Gaelic MSS.: 2. Gaelic MS. Written circa A.D. 1450, continued," pp. 357-60, _Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis consisting of Original Papers and Documents Relating to the History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland_, ed. The Iona Club (Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson, 1847), folio 1, rectum, column C.. [7] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Williamson. [8] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names (3rd Edition)" (WWW: Privately published, 22 Jun 2001). http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ [9] Maclysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985), s.n. Mac Neill. The author notes that the MacNeills are "a gallowglass family from the Western Isles of Scotland, in Antrim and Derry since early fourteenth century." [10] Munro, Jean, and R.W. Munro. Acts of the Lords of the Isles: 1336-1493, Scottish History Society, 4th Series, vol. 22. Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 1986, p. 239. [11] Black, s.n. Neil. Further support for the use of as a Latin equivalent for may be found in the source at footnote [2] under the heading "Problems of Evidence". [12] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. A/ine. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 24 Nov 2004: Replaced some non-ASCII characters with our slashed letters.