ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2658
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2658
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* NOTE: Later research turned up additional     *
*       information relevant to this report.    *
*       See the end of the letter for details.  *
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From: "Lisa and Ken Theriot" 
20 May 2003




Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!


You asked whether <Eva inghean Allmhrain mhic Bhradaigh> is an
appropriate name for a Gaelic-speaking woman living in Ireland or
Scotland between 1200 and 1600.  You told us that your goal is to have a
name that means something like 'Eva, daughter of the pirate who is a
member of the clan MacBrady'.  Here is the information we have found.

Throughout your period, the two main languages spoken in Scotland were
Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands and Western Isles; and Scots, spoken in
the Lowlands, including the royal court and towns.  Gaelic was the same
language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots was closely related to
contemporary English.  English was also spoken in Ireland, having been
brought in by Anglo-Norman settlers beginning in the 12th century.
Names were formed quite differently in the two languages, and the two
styles of naming did not mix.  You specified that you wanted a Gaelic
name, so we'll concentrate on the Gaelic naming conventions.

We find the name <Eva> recorded in 13th century Scottish documents
written in Latin [1].  One of the women came from a Highland family
which probably spoke several languages including Gaelic [2].  We also
find the name recorded in Gaelic in 12th century Scotland as <E/ua>
(here the slash represents an acute accent over the preceding letter and
<u> is pronounced like a <v>) [3].  It is an excellent choice for a
Scottish Gaelic woman for the early part of your period, pronounced
\AY-v@\, where \@\ is the sound of <a> in <soda> and <about>.  We have
no evidence of Gaelic women using the name <Eva> after the 13th century,
so the name may have fallen out of fashion among Gaelic speakers;
accordingly we are less enthusiastic in recommending it for the end of
your period.  

[We originally wrote:]

  We have not found this name used by Gaels in Ireland at all. 

[Subsequent research turned up an example:]

  We have found one example of <E/ua> used by a Gaelic woman in
  Ireland.  <Eua>, daughter of a cleric, is mentioned in 1400 in the
  Annals of Ulster [15].

  
Your bynames are somewhat problematic.  You originally spelled the next
phrase of your name <inghean Allmhrain>, but as we pointed out earlier,
that's an error for <inghean Allmhura/in>, which you created from the
Irish clan name <O/ hAllmhura/in> [4].  The phrase <inghean Allmhura/in>
would mean 'daughter of Allmhura/n', implying that your father's given
name was <Allmhura/n>.  We have found no evidence that <Allmhura/n> was
used as a given name: Not all Irish clan names derived from given names.
The word is related to <allmuir> 'one from overseas, foreigner' and
<allmurach> 'foreigner', both of which could have a secondary sense of
'pirate' [5, 6]; but it is not clear that the clan name itself was
understood as 'clan of the pirate' or anything similar.  Further, we do
not have an example of the clan name used in your period, though we
believe the clan did exist prior to 1600 [7].  In short, we don't see
any way to justify <inghean Allmhura/in> as a correct Gaelic byname.  We
have not found any form of the name in Scotland.

Unfortunately, we haven't found any way to construct a correct
medieval Gaelic byname meaning anything like 'daughter of the pirate'
[but see the addendum, at the end of the letter].  Patronymics based
on occupation were quite rare in Gaelic culture, and the few examples
were based on very common occupations, like <MacGowan> from <mac a'
ghobhainn> 'son of the smith' and <MacTaggart> from <mac an t-sagairt>
'son of the priest' [8, 9].  A Gaelic woman would most likely be known
by a patronymic based on her father's given name, regardless of what
he did for a living; so we recommend that you choose a given name for
your father.  You can find a list of choices on the web:

Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Given Names
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/

Scottish Gaelic Given Names
http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/


The byname <mhic Bhra/daigh> is a form of an Irish clan affiliation.  We
find a woman recorded as <Raghnailt inghe_n Mhecc Bradaigh>, literally
'daughter of MacBrady' but used to mean 'female member of the clan
MacBrady', in Ireland in 1381 [10].  (The <e_> represents a "long e"
character in Gaelic, usually rendered either as <ea> or as <e> when
using English characters to represent Gaelic words; as you know, this
word is typically spelled <inghean> in your period.)  In Scotland, where
clan affiliation was generally not shown in Gaelic naming until after
our period, a name in this form would imply that your grandfather's name
was <Bra/dach>.  Since we don't find any name <Bra/dach> recorded in
Scotland, we don't believe that <mhic Bra/daigh> is plausible as part of
a Scottish Gaelic name. 

[We originally wrote:]

  In summary, we don't have much to offer you in Gaelic.  We have no
  evidence of <Eva> used by Gaelic women in Ireland.

[Based on new research:]

  In summary, we have only a few options to offer in Gaelic.  We found
  only one instance of <Eva> used by a Gaelic woman in Ireland, so we
  can't recommend it as the best choice, but it is clearly a
  possibility in the early 15th century.  <E/ua inghean Mhic
  Bhradaigh> "Eva of the MacBrady clan" would have been a rare name
  c.1400, but it is appropriate for that period.

We cannot justify either byname as part of a Scottish Gaelic name.  If
you want an authentic 12th century Gaelic name, then we recommend you
choose a given name for your father and construct a simple patronymic.
The article "Scottish Gaelic Given Names" that we mentioned earlier is
an ideal source for a masculine name that is historically compatible
with <Eu/a>.  <Eu/a ingen Bro/ssi/n>, for example, is a fine 12th
century Scottish Gaelic name [11].

The only way to combine even two of your elements in one name is to
switch to Lowland Scots culture.  We believe that two of the three 13th
c. examples from footnote [1] were non-Gaelic speakers.  <Eva> was in
common use by English women from the end of the 12th century [12]; since
the Lowland Scots naming pool was more similar to the English naming
pool of the same period than it was to the Gaelic naming pool, we
believe <Eva> is a plausible Lowland Scots name through the end of your
period.  We find <Brady> recorded as a Lowland Scots surname throughout
the 15th and 16th centuries [13].  Lowland Scots <Brady> is related to
Gaelic <mac Bhra/daigh> only through similarity of sound, however.  <Eva
Brady> would be a plausible Lowland Scots name for the last half of your
period [14].


We 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 Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy
merch Catmael, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Julie Stampnitzky, Mari neyn
Brian, Susan Clark, and Talan Gwynek.


For the Academy,


Adelaide de Beaumont
20 May 2003


References:

[1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning
and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Eva,
Eve.  The discussions include the examples Eva, daughter of Alwyn,
second earl of Lennox, 1217 and Eva, wife of Robert de Miners, 1256.
The first woman may have been a Gaelic speaker, as her brothers had
fairly typical Gaelic names; we have no further information about the
second.  <William le fiz Eve> was recorded in 1296; William's mother was
almost certainly not a Gaelic-speaker.

[2] "Stirnet Families Database" (WWW: stirnet.com, 2003).  Accessed 12
May 2003.  The <Eva> mentioned in footnote [1] appears here as child #10
of the union of Alwin, the 2nd Earl of Lennox and his wife, also called
<Eva>, who is listed as the daughter of Gilchrist, Earl of Menteith.
<Gilchrist> is a native Gaelic name; though the ethnicity of early noble
Highland families is somewhat of a muddle due to intermarriages with a
variety of nobility from other cultures, we believe that the <Eva> who
was the daughter of Gilchrist was a Gaelic-speaker (though it's possible
she spoke several languages), and it's possible her daughter was as
well.
http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/ll/lennox1.htm

[3] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "A Simple Guide
to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names", (WWW: Privately
published, 18 June 1997).
http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.shtml

[4] Maclysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish
Academic Press Ltd., 1985), s.n. (O) Halloran.

[5] Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly
on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983),
s.v. allmuir.

[6] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "Annals of the Four Masters,
vol. 1", six volumes (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project
of University College, Cork, Ireland, 1997-98), entries to M902.7.
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005A

Entry M797.12 reads:

h-I Choluimb Chille do losccadh la h-allmurachaibh .i. la Nortmanoibh,
'Coluim Cille was burned by foreigners, i.e. by the Norsemen'.  The
first three digits are the year of the events recorded, i.e. 797 AD.

[7] MacLysaght, Edward, _Irish Families_ (New York: Crown Publishers,
Inc., 1972), s.n. O'Halloran.  The author says that there are two septs.
The Co. Galway sept were chiefs of Clann Fearghaile and "retained their
leading position in Iar-Connacht to the end of the sixteenth century".

[8] Black, s.nn. Macgowan, Mactaggart.

[9] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Quick and Easy
Gaelic Names (3rd Edition)" (WWW: Privately published, 22 Jun 2001).
Occupational bynames are discussed under the heading of "vanishingly
rare byname styles".  The author says, "Note also that while Gaels don't
seem to have used occupational bynames, simple patronymic bynames were
sometimes formed from the father's occupation rather than his given
name. So while there don't appear to be Gaelic bynames describing that
individual as a smith or a tailor, there are simple patronymic bynames
that identify Gaels as the child of a smith or a tailor. The range of
occupations used in simple patronymic bynames, however, appears to be
somewhat limited."
http://www.MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/

[10] Stephen Beechinor, Eoin Dunford, Beatrix Fa"rber, Philip Irwin,
Elva Johnston, Julianne Nyhan, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume
4" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University
College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries M1373-M1493. Entry 1381.19
includes "Raghnailt inghe_n Mhecc Bradaigh bean Meg Dorchaidh".
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005D/

[11] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Scottish Gaelic
Given Names", (WWW: Privately published *in progress*, last updated 18
March 2003).
http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/

[12] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian
Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Eva, Eve.
The name <Eva> is a Latinized form and generally appears in Latin
documents; we believe <Eve> was the common spoken form.

[13] Black, s.n. Brady.

[14] It's outside the scope of our services to research Scottish piracy
for you, but if the name <Eva> and a connection with piracy are of
paramount importance to you, a Lowland Scots name might be a better
option for you.  The most famous Scottish pirate was a Lowlander;
Captain William Kidd was born in Greenock, at the mouth of the Clyde.
You might be interested in this article on the web:

"Bremen Piracy and Scottish Periphery: The North Sea World in the 1440s"
http://www.deremilitari.org/ditchburn1.htm

Note the named Scottish captains are Johnson, Joysson and Howieson;
these are all Lowland Scots names.  Admittedly, they weren't the pirates
here, but most pirates seem to have been known by the name they were
born with, and most of them (like Kidd) were honest captains before they
turned to piracy.

We haven't found a Lowland name specifically related to piracy either,
though the source at [1], [8] and [13] above records the following name
s.n. Pirret: <Walter Pirate> in 1640.  This name is a pet form of Peter;
it has nothing whatsoever to do with piracy.

[15] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (WWW:
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College,
Cork, Ireland, 1997), entry 1400.10.
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100001/


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Addendum, Arval, 7 Feb 2004: In research for report 2828, we came
across the Irish patronymic <O/ Foghlagha> (whence English <Foley>).
Woulfe derives it from a given name <Foghlaigh> and derives that name
from a word meaning "plunderer"; he cites a 12th century Archbishop of
Cashel <Maeiliora O/ Foglada>.  That man is mentioned in the Annals:

  Four Masters (B) M1131.1 Maoil Iosa Ua Foghladha, aird-epscop Caisil

Another example:

  Four Masters (B) M1047.5 Ciar Caille, mac Foghladha

O Corrain and Maguire lists a given name <Fo/carta>, <Fuacarta>, which
they derive from a word meaning "one who is proclaimed an outlaw".  O
Brien's index shows a name normalized as <Foglaid m. Meic-Iairn m. A/eda>.

Dinneen's Gaelic dictionary has <foghlaidhe> "marauder, plunderer,
pirate".  DIL s.v. foglaid defines the word as "one who commits
depredations; a plunderer, reaver, often meaning little more than a
man at arms.  We don't know if the patronymic was based on a byname or
on a forename that derived from the noun.

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Addendum, Arval, 22 Jul 2004: Mari turned up an example of <Eua> as a
given name in Ireland.  

  U1400.10
  Eua, ingen in comarba h-Ui Taichligh, nobilis puella, obiit.

  Eva, daughter of the Superior Ua Taichligh, a noble damsel, died.

I added discussion of this, with note [15], and modified the
conclusions appropriately.