The simple listing of patterns hides part of the story, however, and
pattern-codes don't give a good feel for what the names look like. Let's
examine some of the trends and non-obvious patterns in detail, and show
what the names realy look like, starting with the women.
|
|
Women's names containing Irish elements fall into three groups: an Irish
given name with the Latin designation vidua (widow);
|
| Morina vidua |
| Slany vidua |
| Raynagh vidua |
| Bridok vidua |
an English given name followed by a single Irish byname;
|
| Evota Oge |
or an Irish or English given name followed by an Irish patronym. One of the
last is "complex" in that it has the designation vidua
after the patronym.
|
| Slany Enynimolan (i.e., inghean uí Mhaoláin) |
| Elyn McGalman |
| Emin O Karwill vidua |
It may be relevant in the interpretation of locatives that there are no
examples of women bearing Irish locatives.
|
|
Note that no woman is classed as having an Irish-context name on the basis
of a Latin relationship term followed by an Irish name (whether father or
husband).
|
|
There are no women's name containing Welsh elements.
|
|
Women's names containing neither Irish nor Welsh elements cover more
ground. Somewhat more than half contain some relational byname, either
filia/heredia (10), uxor (10), or vidua (6). Half of
these are "simple" in that they include no more than the relevant
relation's given name (if that much -- vidua most often stands
alone, and uxor often is followed only by eius, his, in
reference to a previously mentioned husband). The element following this
Latin relationshp term is always given a Latin inflection.
|
| Agatha filia Mauricii |
| Sibilla filia Radulfi |
| Johanna uxor eius |
When the relationship term is complex, it is roughly equally divided
between Latin occupational bynames,
|
| Alicia filia Johannis Tinctoris (painter) |
| Margareta filia Laurencii molendinarii (miller) |
Latin patronyms,
|
| Basilla uxor Philippi fil. Roberti |
| Mabilla uxor Rogeri fil. Milonis |
and surnames or locatives that are probably functioning as hereditary
surnames (since they seem to be attached to the prominent English families
of the area).
|
| Roysia heredia Roberti de Valle |
| Alicia uxor Walteri de la Hay |
| Matilda vidua Nicholao Bukeley |
In one lone example, the relational term appears to have a descriptive
byname,
|
| Emma vidua Willelmo Longo |
and in another the woman has both her own surname and a byname indicating
her husband (who bears a different surname).
|
| Symonis Croker uxor E. Blaunchevile |
|
The "English" names without explicit relational elements split
mainly between surnames
|
| Alicia Argentyme |
| Isabella Betriche |
| Isabella Duse |
| Matilda Mag |
| Roysia Travers |
| Isabella Wyte |
| Sibilla Casse |
| Alicia Hesam |
and locatives, many of which may actually be family surnames.
|
| Beatricia de Blaunchevill |
| Sussanna del Grange |
| Sarra de Hereford |
| Lucia de Roily |
| Sibilla de Salle |
| Johanna de Stafford |
Also represented is what may be either unmarked relational bynames, or
surnames.
|
| Mabilla Gerard |
| Sarra Godfrey |
|
Two surnames balance on the edge between English and Irish -- they are of
English linguistic origin, but give evidence of having been modified to the
Irish sound-system. This strongly suggests that they are hereditary family
surnames. It may suggest that the family is now Irish-speaking, although
the same change could happen without that circumstance.
|
| Margareta ffanyn |
| Isabella Braynok |
|
To summarize some of the interesting points, women's name containing Irish
elements do not use Latin relational elements except for vidua (but
these without specifying the object of the relation). The only
non-relational bynames appearing in the "Irish" women's names
appear to be descriptive bynames. There are no cases where a woman has an
Irish given name and an English surname, or a given name of any type with
an Irish locative. The "English" women's names are slightly
skewed toward using Latin relational bynames, with the others
overwhelmingly having what are most likely hereditary family surnames.
|
|
The contrast in patterns between men and women may, as noted above, have to
do with differences between men and women in the adoption of English given
names. However, if this were the only factor, we would expect to find more
examples where an English- origin feminine given name is associated with an
Irish-origin relational byname (given the relative numbers of Irish versus
English masculine given names in the record). This suggests a different
explanation: that, perhaps, ethnically Irish women were significantly less
likely to be mentioned in this sort of record than ethnically English women
in the same community. This theory is more satisfactory from one point of
view, however it introduces a different oddity. The most generous count for
non- Irish-context names (including names with Welsh, but no Irish,
elements, and including names where the only Irish element is a locative
byname) comes to 50 (versus 161 Irish-context) for men, and 47 (versus 8
Irish-context) for women. This interpretation would suggest that, among the
non-Irish community, women appear in the records in equal numbers with men
-- a rather startling departure from other legal records of this period
that I have studied.
|
|
Men
|
Welsh
|
It is convenient to dispense with the names containing Welsh elements
first. The first thing to observe is that these names lean overwhelmingly
toward patronyms -- suggesting that men bearing Welsh names are most likely
ethnically Welsh and retain that culture's preference for patronymic
identifications. Slightly more than half use Latin filius. Most are
simple, including only the father's given name, but two include a locative
(Irish) or additional generation. When the father's name is Welsh, the
father's name is twice as likely not to use Latin inflections as to use
them, whereas when the father's name is not Welsh, it always takes Latin
inflectins.
|
| Griffinus fil. Ade |
| Oliver[um] fil. Eynon |
| Thomas fil. Rys |
| Griffinus fil. Benedicti |
| Griffinus fil. Mathei |
| Elyider[i] fil. Meileri |
| Thomas fil. Rysy |
| Urien fil. Stephani |
| Elyder[i] fil. Meileri de Midia |
| Theobaldus fil. Johannis fil. Meileri de Rupe |
Three names use Norman French fitz. (This may be an example of a
particular family preference, as two are the same person and the third
shares a name element.) Interestingly, these are the only names using
fitz.
|
| Robertus fitz Ytholl |
| Ythell fitzEynon |
The overwhelming majority of the remaining names consist of two given names
-- quite possibly unmarked patronyms.
|
| Ade Cradok |
| Petrus Griffyn |
| Thomas Howell |
| Willelmus Rys |
| Philippus Rys |
In addition, we have an English given name with a Welsh locative,
|
| Jacobus de Penris |
and a Latin ethnic byname meaning "Welsh". (The use of Latin,
combined with the Welsh given name, indicates fairly clearly that this is a
personal nickname, rather than a hereditary surname. Compare with
"Walsh" in the Irish section below.)
|
| Ithel Walensis |
|
English
|
There are relatively few men's names that contain neither Irish nor Welsh
elements. Of these, about two-thirds contain only given names -- with or
without Latin filius. When the Latin relational term is present, the
following name takes a Latin inflection. When filius is not present,
the byname may be a hereditary family surname, rather than a true patronym.
|
| Johannes fil. Hugonis |
| Ricardus fil. Milonis |
| Johannes Lauerance |
| Radulfus Patrik |
There appears to be one case where Latin de has been used with a
given name (most likely a hereditary surname).
|
| Johannes de Rembold |
| Ricardus Rembold |
The remainder of the cases involve surnames. The only "complex"
name adds a territorial title.
|
| David Croker |
| Theobaldus le Botiller(not an occupational name, the Butlers were the ruling family of Ormond) |
| Jacobus le Botiller Comitus Ormonie (i.e., Count of Ormond) |
|
Irish
|
Nearly half of the men's names containing Irish elements include an
explicit relational element, whether Latin filius, Irish mac
or Irish ó. It should be noted that while, by my
classification system, any name containing mac or ó
would automatically be considered to "contain Irish elements",
there is only a small group of names in which this is the only Irish
element present (and these will be discussed below).
|
|
Relatively few names use Latin filius and the majority of these have
a complex patronym, containing both the father's given name and his
mac patronym. Another odd case identifies the father with a Latin
occupation, and is followed by an ó patronym. Yet another
example is followed by a locative, but this is discussed below in the
section on locatives. When the father's name is Irish, it does not take
Latin inflections, otherwise it does.
|
| Philippus fil. Doncoun |
| Dermot fil. Milonis McTalwy |
| Rogerus fil. Milonis McNaspuk |
| Andreas fil. Willelmi McShane |
| Johannes fil. capellani O Brin |
Mac and ó patronyms appear in approximately equal
numbers. Interestingly, no names include both (although note that
filius does appear in combination with each, but not both). A few
mac patronyms include a following element -- the same ones where
mac is the only Irish element. Names with ó patronyms
contain no following element. (In only the case given above, does a name
with an ó patronym contain any other element.) With
one exception, the given names following mac are all Irish (the
exception being Welsh). Two-thirds of the given names followed by
mac patronyms are also Irish. All the given names following
ó patronyms are Irish, and again two-thirds of the given
names preceding them are Irish. The following are only a few typical
examples.
|
| Dovenold McBalwy |
| Molice McBroyg |
| Oalnerauth McCorkeran |
| Gilcrist McGylmoy |
| ffoulin McKengan |
| Kynnath McKeni |
| Henricus McConauthey |
| Johannes McGilmoy |
| Thomas McKelan |
| Conowre Obryn |
| ffyn O Donely |
| Gilmartyn O Duffgan |
| Corkeran Ohurholthy |
| Dovenold O Tagan |
| ffolan Otothel |
| Johannes O Donan |
| Adam O Doude |
| Walterus Otothel |
In one case, a Welsh given name appears with an ó patronym,
|
| Meiler[o] Otothel |
and in one other case, mac is followed by a Welsh name.
|
| Carrek McGriffyn |
|
I've made several references to an unusual set of names -- the only ones
were mac is the only Irish element present, and where it is followed
by an English name. These names are as follows.
|
| Ricardus McHenry Vale |
| McRobion Bottiller (no given name present) |
The Butlers, as previously noted, are the ruling family of Ormonde at this
time. The Vale family shows up numerous times in the records and presumably
were another important family in the region. The general pattern we seem to
be seeing here is that of powerful Anglo-Irish families adopting mac
patronyms while retaining family surnames. Another name with a similar
pattern, but an Irish name in the patronym, appears. I have no other
references to "Walsh" as a prominent family in the area.
|
| Ricardus McGeiffein Walsh |
|
Names containing only two given names seem likely to be unmarked
patronyms. In contrast to the names with mac and ó
patronyms, only one-fifth of the given names in this group are Irish, while
all of the possible patronyms are Irish -- that is, there are no
"gg" pattern names where the first is Gaelic and the second
not. The correlation between adopting English given names and dropping the
mac from patronyms is not particularly surprising.
|
| Willelmus Brenan |
| Philippus Doneheved |
| Petrus ffynover |
| Douenoldus Mouenath |
|
A smaller group of entries consist only of an Irish given name -- although
at least a couple of these may be a given name and byname run together.
|
| Molmory |
| Lechlen |
| Gyllfynnan |
| Gilumtharog |
| Conghirketh |
| ffleadrekin |
| ffynthcor |
|
Of the remaining names without patronyms, the vast majority are simple,
with only a single byname of some type. The largest group has a descriptive
byname. While all the descriptive bynames are Irish, a startlingly small
number of the associated given names are Irish (about 1/20).
|
| Thomas Beche |
| Henricus Beg |
| Willelmus Boy |
| Jacobus Done |
| Radulfus Ker |
| Johannes Og |
| Ricardus Roth |
| Dermot Moor |
There is also one example with two descriptive bynames.
|
| Thomas Rowe Beg |
Two names have Latin occupational bynames. (There are no Irish occupational
bynames anywhere in the document.) The use of Latin suggests that these are
the actual occupations of the men.
|
| Gillemyall medico |
| Sytrok summonitore |
|
The names with Irish locative bynames, with a single possible exception,
have English given names. (The exception being Gilko, which I have
not identified to my satisfaction. It may be an Irish Giolla-X name,
but it might also be an English diminutive of Giles.) There are
several cases where the same person appears with and without de or
with and without a surname preceding the locative. The places identified
include settlements in the territory of Ormond (Kilkasshe, Balymore) and
territorial names from neighboring regions (Media/Methe). For various
reasons, it seems quite likely that these locative bynames do not refer
simply to place of origin, but have territorial implication.
|
| Johannes de Balligaueran |
| Gilko de Balymaclothyr |
| Robertus de Doundonevold |
| Robertus Doundonevold |
| Willelmus de Kilkasshe |
| Willelmus Vale de Kilkasshe |
| Willelmus de Killmor |
| Willelmus Kilmor |
| Ricardus de Midia |
| Johannes de Midia |
| Thomas Methe |
| Andreas de Rathgarvan |
| Johannes fil. Johannes de Balymore |
|
As with the more complex mac names, the more complex non- patronymic
names seem to be associated with important families. (In addition to the
aforementioned Vale family, evidence in the records suggests that Johannes
fynne Neele is an important member of the O'Neills.)
|
| Johannes ffynne Neele |
| Ricardus Oge Vale |
| Willelmus Vale de Kilkasshe |
|
One overall pattern among the men's names seems to be for any Anglicization
of name pattern to be accompanied by a move away from Gaelic given
names. That is, you almost never find Gaelic given names combined with
English surnames, English-style (unmarked) patronyms, or locatives.
|