ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1307 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1307 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: This is one of the Academy's earliest * * reports. We are not confident that * * these early reports are accurate. * * Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 30 Nov 1998 From: Jodi McMaster Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked whether the name could be documented for a woman living around 650 AD whose father was an Irish bard and whose mother was a Dalriadan Scot. First, we'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that it not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name, then we may not be able to help you. During the early period of Irish Dalriada settlement in Scotland, the two groups functioned as a single culture, sharing the same language (Early Gaelic, also known as Old Irish) and naming practices. During the time in which you are interested, the cultural distinction between "Irish" and "Dalriada Scot" is pretty much the distinction between native Californians and immigrants to California from Ohio. The most likely people to move to Scottish Dalriada were people from Irish Dalriada. Therefore, the child of a union between someone from Irish Dalriada and someone Scottish Dalriada would be named no differently than if the parents were both from Irish Dalriada or Scottish Dalriada. The given name you are interested in is problematic. The name is a masculine name, a late period spelling of the Old Irish name (where the "/" indicates an accent over the preceding vowel), a male saint. [1] We've only found one instance of , and we're not sure that it is a feminine name. The <-a> ending is not a feminine suffix in Gaelic as in English or Latin. A Gaelic name ending in <-a> could be masculine or feminine. appears to be a variant of the masculine name that was misinterpreted by an English or Latin speaker. Indeed, our best source on Irish names says that the St. Fai/ltigern whose feast day is March 17 was a man. [1] Further evidence can be found by looking at the underlying root: and are synonymous, both masculine words meaning "lord, chief" [4]. On the other hand, we found one other name, , which is feminine [3]; so it is possible that might also have been used as a woman's name. However, the evidence for that use isn't very strong and we recommend that you choose a different name. We have seen no evidence of the use of matronymics during this early period. It is almost unheard of in Gaelic for a person to derive a byname from his or her mother's name. We have only two examples of this, both cases involving royalty in unusual circumstances. Patronymics, however, were commonly used. The word (with an accent) is a modern Irish word and was not used in Gaelic in our period. It originated shortly after 1600 as a contraction of the late-period Irish phrase , which literally means "daughter of O/", and was used as the feminine form of in family names. That's also how is used in modern Irish: for feminine forms of family names. If you simply want to say "daughter of," you should use (pronounced \EEN-yen\), the early-period spelling of "daughter." The spelling of the father's name changes when it is used after to show possession, something like the difference between and . Family names like (in English, ) began to be used in Ireland in the 10th century, well after your period. They were not a normal part of Scottish naming practices. The name is a modern Irish spelling of , the Gaelic form of . Medieval Gaels did not give this name to their children; they considered it to be too holy for normal use [1]. In fact, the name was not commonly used by seventh century Christians in Western Europe; the popular veneration of Mary arose later in the Middle Ages [5]. A similar-sounding feminine Gaelic name that was used during the period is , pronounced like the word "more." If you'd like to consider some other names, we'll be happy to help. If you'd like to consider names beginning with "F" (or something like that), we can send you a list of possibilities. You can also find a list of early-medieval Gaelic women's names on the web: Feminine Names from the Index to O'Brien's 'Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae' http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/irish-obrien.html The source for this article is 12th century and Irish, but we believe that most of these names could also have been used in 7th century Dalriada. The spellings aren't appropriate for your period, though, so if you choose a few names, we'll be happy to give you appropriate spellings and pronunciations. You can also find a list of popular early-medieval Gaelic men's names on the web that you can use to choose your father's name: 100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/irish100 These names also need some massaging to bring them into your period; let us know which one's interest you, and we'll send you the details. We hope this letter has been helpful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Margaret Makafee contributed comments and/or research for this letter. For the Academy, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum __________________ References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation). [3] O/ Riain, Pa/draig, ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1985). {4} Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983). [5] Christianity: THE CHURCH AND ITS HISTORY: Christian doctrine: GOD THE SON: The doctrine of the Virgin Mary and holy Wisdom." and "Latin Literature: Medieval Latin literature: THE 9TH TO THE 11TH CENTURY" Britannica Online. [Accessed 30 October 1998] http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=macro/5003/65/22.html http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=macro/5001/28/53.html ------------ Annotation by Aryanhwy, 10 July 2007: Further research supercedes the paragraph on in this report. We have since found examples of used by Gaelic women in late-period Ireland; our first example is from the end of the 14th century. See Report #2859 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/2859) for more details. Additionally, in the 15th and 16th centuries we find the spelling , but only in references to women of Anglo-Norman descent. We have not found any examples of used by Gaelic women. [*] [*] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001-2006). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/