ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1344
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1344
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20 Nov 1998
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Mairead ni Sean> is a registerable late-16th century
Irish feminine name.  Here is what we have found.

We actually don't try to figure out whether a name will pass, but
whether it's appropriate for your specific period.  The SCA has fairly
lenient rules for passing names, so it's possible to pass many names
which aren't historically accurate.  If having this name is more
important to you than having a historical name, then you should
consult another group (such as the heralds in your kingdom or the SCA
heralds mailing list at
http://listserv.aol.com/archives/scahrlds.html) to find out whether
your name will pass.  Happily, your name is almost right for your
period.

<Ma/ire/ad> is a modern spelling of the Irish Gaelic form of <Margaret>.
In your period, we would expect it to be spelled <Ma/irghre/ad> and
pronounced \MAR-ait\ [1].  The slash in the names represents an accent on
the preceding letter.

<Sea/n> is a fine name for a 16th century Irishman [1].

The word <ni/> didn't exist in period; it is a post-period contraction of
either the word <inghean> or the phrase <inghean ui/>.  The word <inghean>
means "daughter", and it was used in women's names the same way <mac> was
used in men's names.  That is to say, if a man named <Sea/n> had a son and
a daughter, they might be called <Lachlann mac Sea/in> and <Ma/irghre/ad
inghean Shea/in>.  The phrase <inghean ui/> was effectively the feminine
equivalent of <O/> in Irish family names.  If <Sea/n> were a member of the
<O/ Conchobhair> clan, his children could also be called <Lachlann O/
Conchobhair> and <Ma/irghre/ad inghean ui/ Chonchobhair>, which effectively
meant "Lachlann of the O'Connor clan" and "Ma/irghre/ad of the O'Connor
clan".  <inghean> was originally pronounced \IN-yen\.  Late in our period
it became \@-NEEN\, \neen\, or simply \nee\ in some dialects.  The symbol
\@\ represents a schwa, the last vowel sound in <sofa>.  The phrase
<inghean ui/> was originally \IN-yen ee\, but by your period the
pronunciation had contracted to \nee\.  The spelling eventually followed
the pronunciation, but not until after our period [4].

You'll notice in the examples in the previous paragraph that the father's
name changes spelling when incorporated into his children's names.  These
changes are required by Gaelic grammar.  The added <i> puts his name into
the possessive form, just like <'s> in English.  The added <h> in the
daughter's name indicates a softening of the pronunciation of the first
consonant; instead of being pronounced \SHAHN~\, it become \HAHN~\, where
the symbol \N~\ represents the sound of <ni> in <junior> or n-tilde in the
Spanish <sen~or>.  This pronunciation change is called "lenition", and it
is required in Gaelic in some grammatical circumstances.

Putting everything together: If you want your name to mean "Ma/irghre/ad
daughter of Sea/n", then the historically-accurate form is <Ma/irghre/ad
inghean Shea/in>, pronounced \MAR-ait neen HAHN~\.  If you want your name
to mean "Ma/irghre/ad of the O'Sean clan", you would be called
<Ma/irghre/ad inghean ui/ Shea/in>, \MAR-ait nee HAHN~\.

Many records in your period were written in English, so if your name had
been written down, it might have been transcribed into English.  Given
names were usually translated to some similar or equivalent English name,
so <Ma/irghre/ad> would have been written <Margaret>.  <Mac Sea/in> is
recorded around 1600 as <M'Sheain>, <M'Sheane>, <M'Shaine>, and <M'Shaen>.
If you replace the <M'> with <nyn>, you'll have a likely feminine
equivalent, so you might write you name <Margaret nyn Sheane> [2, 3].


I 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 Talan Gwynek and Effrick neyn
Kenneoch.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  20 Nov 1998


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References

[1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The
Lilliput Press, 1990), s.n. Ma/rgre/g.

[2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_
(Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.n. Mac Seagha/in.

[3] Ewen, C. L'Estrange, _A History of Surnames of the British Isles_
(London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1931; Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1968),
p.210. 

[4] O/ Clerigh, Lughaidh, _Beatha Aodha Ruaidh Ui/ Dhomhnaill -- Life of
Hugh Roe O'Donnell_ ed. Paul Walsh (Irish Texts Society, 1948).