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3 - Gaelic Personal Names and Name Elements in Scottish Charters, 1093–1286

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2019

Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh
Affiliation:
Professor of Gaelic at the University of Glasgow and currently Vice Principal and Head of the College of Arts.
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Summary

The aim of this chapter is to provide the first detailed description and taxonomy of medieval Scottish Gaelic personal names and name elements as they occur in Latin charters and related documents from the end of the reign of Máel Coluim/Malcolm III to the end of the reign of Alexander III, and to discuss a small selection of names and name elements. While surnames are not the focus of this chapter, the personal names from which they derive are of interest here for the light they can shed on Gaelic naming practices in medieval Scotland even though such practices may predate the period of charters which contain them. The chapter consists of two main parts: A: Gaelic names: a description, B: Gaelic names and name elements: a taxonomy. The chapter is based on the database created by the AHRC-funded project ‘The Paradox of Medieval Scotland’ (PoMS, project number AH/E008348/1), a collaborative research project involving the University of Glasgow, the University of Edinburgh, and King's College London, with Professor Dauvit Broun as principal investigator.

PART A: GAELIC NAMES: A DESCRIPTION

Part A consists of the following sections:

1. General name statistics for PoMS

2. The Gaelic names

  • 2.1 Equivalent names

  • 2.2 Names with multiple origins

  • 2.3 Variation in name elements

  • 2.4 Defining Gaelic names

  • 2.5 Gaelic names: statistics

  • 3. A comparison with O'Brien's corpus of early medieval Gaelic names (CGH)

    Based on 6,016 documents from the period 1093–1286, the PoMS database recognizes 15,221 unique ‘individuals’ in the main ‘Name’ field. However, this includes 1,503 instances of ‘unknown’ people and non-personal name categories such as:

    Unknown (603 instances), Church, Men, Chapel, Heirs, Baillies, Hospital, Saint […], Ancestors, Burgesses, Predecessors, Bishopric, Barony, Burgh, Children, Grieves, Bishops, Clergy, Court, Sons, St […] Abbey/Priory, Friars, Sworn men, Fermers, Serviens, Worthy men, Céli Dé, Foresters, Knights Templar/Knights of, People, Abbots, Archdeaconry, Archdeacons, Daughters, Executors, Order of, Prelates, Brethren, Brothers, Canons, Chapel/church(es), Fraternity, Itinerant justiciars, Monks, Sheriff, Tenants, Urban, Vicars, Archbishops, Earls, Kings, Merchants, Officials, Parishioners, Sacristy, Synod, […] Abbey, Abbot, Almshouse, etc.

    If we deduct such categories, we arrive at a total figure of 13,718 individuals named in the database, 263 of whom are represented by abbreviations consisting of capital letters. In terms of gender, only 574 of these individuals are female, i.e. almost 4.2% of the total.

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