Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 407

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 407

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/407

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information that we found on "Ealasaid Ros," which you'd like to use as a 14th-century Scottish name.

We found a 15th-century reference to "Ealusaid" (a slightly different spelling of the same name.) Our source is a manuscript from 1467. (1)

This is probably a Gaelic form of Elizabeth, but we aren't positive that it was used in the 1300's. The "Ealusaid" mentioned is the great-grandmother of a man who was living around the time of the manuscript, but we don't know whether she was called "Ealusaid" during her own life. Given no evidence either way, we'd say that it's possible, but not certain, that "Ealusaid" was used in the 1300's.

Ross is a Scots-language name. There are two different names which both evolved into the modern "Ross." One name means "from Ross." We found it in the following forms:

The other name means "red" (red-haired or ruddy) and is found in the following forms:

"Rous," "Ros," and "Rosse" are all appropriate spellings for your period, but it would be more common for your name to be written "le Ross" than "the Ross" in your period.

Scots and Gaelic are different languages, so neither "Ross" would be used with "Ealasaid." However, you could use a Scots form of "Elizabeth." We found "Elizabet," dated to 1329, and numerous forms of "Isabel" from Scotland, including: (3)

"Elizabet de Roos" would be a perfect name for a 14th-century woman who speaks Scots.

If you want a Gaelic name, you could use "Ealusaid" with a Gaelic byname. Most Gaelic women had names which meant "daughter of...." The Gaelic form is "inghean <father's name>." If you're interested in a particular name for your father, we can tell you whether it's period and what the proper form of the name would be.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

(1) Our source is a photograph of the manuscript, which is shelf-marked

72.1.1 in the Scottish National Library. The actual entry looks like "Eal3aid." Prof. Colm O'Boyle from the University of Aberdeen has confirmed that "3" was a common abbreviation for "us."

(2) Black, G. "The Surnames of Scotland," under "Ross."

(3) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/scottishfem/scottishfemearly.html