ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1059 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1059 ************************************ From: 9 Jul 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wrote to us about the feminine Irish name because the name was returned for presumption and you were asked to provide documentation that the name was in some common use in early period. We assume that this return was in Kingdom, since this name does not appear on any recent Laurel Letters of Acceptances and Returns. The simplest solution might be to make an appeal to Laurel. However, here is what we found on researching your name: In addition to the old Irish goddess, the source you cited mentions the daughter of an Ulster warrior and the daughter of a king of Munster. Additionally, the statement that '[t]he name always retained its pagan associations' suggests that it was in use by people in period [1]. For your period, you may want the older spelling of this name: . We note that [1] has , not the spelling that you sent to us. In later period your name would be ; this is roughly pronounced as \EVE-yahl ahn SHIN-nahkh\. We did find one example of this animal-word nickname in early Irish: "the fox" [2]. There is also a surname [3], based on "fox". This name literally means "male descendant of Sionnach". The change in spelling to "sionnach" is a grammatical change in Gaelic to the genitive (possessive). In your period, this construction was used as a family or clan name. So you could also be , or literally "Ai/bell, daughter of a male descendant of Sionnach". This name would be pronounced \EVE-yahl IN-yen ee HIN-nich\, with \ch\ as in German . We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicouer, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Evan da Collaureo, and AElfwyn aet Gyrwum contributed to this letter. In service, --Walraven van Nijmegen Academy of S. Gabriel [1] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990) [2] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language_ (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1983) [3] Edward MacLysaght, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985)