ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2223 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2223 ************************************ 02 Mar 2001 From: sara friedemann Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an appropriate Scottish Gaelic name for a man living in the late 16th century. Here is the information we have found. was the name of an early 6th century king of Dalriada. [1,2] Unfortunately, the name seems to have died out very early on, and we find no evidence that it was used beyond this period. We recommend that you consider a different choice for your given name. The following list of names is from a 1541 Scottish manuscript written in Latin; [4] we have converted the names in that document to their normalized late-period Gaelic forms. Any of them would be appropriate for your period. Names with a star after them were particularly common. In these names, a slash represents an accent over the previous letter. Amhlaibh from Old Norse Cailean Coinneach Comhghan Domhnall * Donnchadh * Dubhghall * Donnsle/ibhe Eachann Eo/in * a borrowing of the name Fionnlagh Gille Bheatha/in Gille Bri/ghde "servant of S. Bridget" Gille Chaluim "servant of S. Calum" Gille Faola/in or Gille Fhaola/in * "servant of S. Faolan" Gille Micheil "servant of S. Michael" Gille Mhoire or Gille Moire * "servant of Mary" Gilleasbuig or Gilleaspuig * "servant of a bishop" Lu/cas a borrowing of the name Maol Mhuire or Maol Muire "devotee of Mary" Ma/rtainn * a borrowing of the name Niall * Pilip * a borrowing of the name Ruadha/n Thorcadall from Old Norse <{TH}orketill> [6] If you are interested in any of these names, please write us again and we'll be happy to tell you how they were pronounced. The word means "great, tall," and was a fairly common Gaelic nickname. We find various examples of it in the 15th century. [5] You could either use the word capitalized or not; we find it recorded in different ways in different sources, and believe that spelling it either or is simply a result of editorial discretion. The word was pronounced like the English word . was a Gaelic adaptation of the Latin saint's name , which was common among the Normans. The spelling seems to be modern; we believe that is a plausible spelling for the 16th century. [1] In your period, surnames like were used literally: Gilleaspuig who was the son of Griogair mac Domhnaill was called 'Gilleaspuig, son of Griogair.' The practice in Scotland of using surnames to indicate clan membership did not develop until after our period. The byname was pronounced roughly \m@ GRIG-@r\, where the \@\ represents the sound of in or and \I\ is pronounced somewhere between the vowel sounds of and [3]. We hope that this letter has been useful, and that you will not hestitate to write again if you have any further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Adelaide de Beaumont, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 01Mar01 ------------- References: [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Domangart, MacGregor. [2] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). [3] A more accurate pronunciation is \m@g-GRIG-@r\, where the two \g\ sounds are really a single, longer sound, without a pause between them. [4] Ewen, C. L'Estrange, _A History of Surnames of the British Isles_ (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1931; Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1968). p. 209 [5] Unpublished research of Effrick neyn Kenneoch, "Names from Skene's Transcription of the 1467 MS", 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). [6] The {TH} represents the letter thorn, which looks like a and a

superimposed over each other.