ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1148 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1148 ************************************ From: 6 Sep 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help choosing a 12th to 14th century Scottish Gaelic man's name, with the given name and your father's name beginning with A or G. If is not appropriate, you asked us to suggest alternatives. In 12th and 13th centuries, several languages were spoken in the area that is Scotland today. The major ones were: * Norse, spoken in the far north and the western isles. * English, spoken mainly in the southeast; it evolved into Scots toward the end of your period. * Gaelic, spoken through much of the country. * Norman French, spoken by Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. The languages were very different and had different naming customs. There was some mixing of names from the different cultures, but most names were not adopted into all of the cultures. Unfortunately, is an English name, not a Gaelic name. It was adopted into Gaelic as or , but probably not until the 16th century [1]. The earliest evidence we located for use of the name by a Gael is in 1529; this man was probably a Gael named , but whose name was recorded in a Middle English form. The slash (/) represents an accent over the preceeding vowel in each name. We recommend against the name if you want a Gaelic name, though the variant is fine for a 16th century Gaelic persona. If you are more interested in using the name , we recommend that you choose a later period English-speaking persona since the name was used in that language in Scotland earlier than it was in Gaelic. If you would like more information about constructing an English name, please feel free to contact us again. In your period, a man in Gaelic-speaking culture was generally known as his father's son. For example, if you had the first name and your father were named , you would be called , meaning "Aonghus son of Ailpean". The spelling change from to is grammatical, and is analogous to the difference between and . Since you specificially asked for a Gaelic name, we have gathered a list of Gaelic names beginning with A or G that could have been used by your father. These are appended at the end of this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Arval Benicoeur researched this letter. In service, --Walraven van Nijmegen Academy of S. Gabriel [1] George F. Black, _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_ (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986) s.n. MacJames, Jack, Dale, Lapraik, Spott =========================================================================== Appended list of Gaelic men's names beginning with A or G: The first row is the patronym (father's name) with pronunciation; the second is the patronymic (surname formed from the father's name); the third has one or more Scots forms with dates [1]. We haven't bothered to write out the pronunciation of \mahk\ each time, and 'n.c.' is 'no change' and means that there is no change in pronunciation when the father's name is used in the surname. Spellings and pronunciations are for later in your period. The \@\ is schwa, and the \#\ represents a vowel that doesn't exist in English; you can produce it by trying to say \oo\ (as in "boo!") with your lips positioned as if you were saying \ee\. Gairbhith \GAR-vee\ \GAR-vay\ 1484, 1488 Gille Aindreis \GILL-EN-dresh\ n.c. 1165-1214, 1260, c.1275 Gille Bhrighde \GILL-@ VREE-dj@\ n.c. 1363, 1429 Gofraidh \GOHF-ree\ n.c. 1315, 1319 Griogair \GRIG-air\ n.c. 1500 Gille Chonaill \GILL-@ KHOHN-ahl\ n.c. 1298 Gille Chriosd n.c. 1243, 1296, c.1300 Gille Fhaolain \GILL-@ #L-ahn\ n.c. 1305-6, 1359, 1347, 1381, 1372 Gille Iosa \GILL-EES-@\ n.c. before 1184, c.1179, 1262, 1376 Gille Bheathain \GILL-@ VAY-ahn\ n.c. 1376 Gille Naomh \GILL-@ N#V\ n.c. 1165-1214 Ailpean \EL-pen\ n.c. c.1260, 1271, c.1285, 1284-90, 1395 Aonghas, Aonghus \#N-@s\ , , \#N-@s-@\, \#N-ooish\, \#N-@sh\ No early citations; 1492, 1514 Alaxandair \AH-l@k-SAHN-dair\ n.c. 1398 Adam \AH-d@m\ \AH-dem\ c.1161, 1460 Artair \AR-tair\ or Artuir \AR-tooir\ n.c. or n.c. 1439 Aodh \#DH\, but \#GH\ by the end of your period \#DH-@\, but later \#GH-@\; or \#EE\ 1215, 1306-29, 1232; 1326, before 1329 In the represents , here standing for \dh\.