small one”),
Baíthéne
(“the little simpleton”), and
Lonngargán
(“the fierce and eager one”). Such nick-
names could also be added to a personal name as a
soubriquet; for example,
Conán Maol
(“C. the bald”) or
Domnall Rua
(“Domnall with the red hair”).
The presence of other languages and cultures in
medieval Ireland gave rise to the borrowing of foreign
names (see Languages). As already noted, British
(Welsh) influence is evident in the formation of pet
names. Conversion to Christianity led to borrowing
from early missionaries of such names as
Pátraic
(
<
Lat.
Patricius
) and
Sechnall
(
<
Lat.
Secundinus
),
while the ecclesiastical culture that they introduced
provided biblical names and names of foreign saints;
such as
Aindrias
,
Martan
, and
Petar
. From Anglo-
Saxon derived names such as
Conaing
(
<
OE
cyning
)
and
Éamonn
(
<
OE
Eadmund
); and from Scandinavian
Amlaíb
(
<
ON
Óláfr
) and ́
lmar
(
<
ON ́
lvarr
). But the
most prominent group of borrowed names came from
Norman French, many of which were probably intro-
duced as a result of the Norman practice of conferring
saints’ names at baptism. Popular women’s names
from French were
Caitilín
(
<
Cateline
),
Máire
(
<
Marie
), and
Nóra
(
<
Honora
); and among male
names,
Seaán
(
<
Jehan
), and
Séamus
(
<
Jacobus
).
The most significant innovation in personal names
was the introduction of surnames. In the early medieval
period an individual of note, say
Colmán
, could be
further identified by reference to his sept or his father;
thus,
Colmán mac Rímedo
(C. son of Rímed). But by
the tenth century the formula “X son of Y” was under-
going a change in function whereby its “son of Y”
element now indicated a surname. The litmus test for
such surnames is that the
mac
element no longer has
its literal meaning of “son.” Thus the obit of Dermot
mac Murrough (
- 1171), identifies him as
Diarmait
Mac Murchada
, where the “Mac M.” element is not
literally true since Dermot’s father was called Donnchad.
Likewise the other common surname prefix,
Ua
(later
Ó
), “grandson,” introduces a surname in the name
Comaltán Ua Cléirig
(
- whose actual grandfather
was Máel Fábaill. Of the two prefixes,
Ua
is older, the
Mac
element becoming popular in the late twelfth
century, a development which may be connected with
the breakdown of Gaelic family structures following
the Anglo-Norman invasion. Much work remains to be
done on archiving and classifying the personal names
of medieval Ireland.
P
ÁDRAIG
Ó N
ÉILL
References and Further Reading
O’Brien, M.A. Corpus genealogiarum Hiberniae. Dublin: Dublin
Institute for Advanced Studies, 1962.
(ed. R. Baumgarten). “Old Irish Personal Names.”
Celtica 10 (1973): 211–36.
Ó Corrain, Donnchadh, and Maguire, Fidelma. Gaelic Personal
Names. Dublin: The Academy Press, 1981.
Ó Cuív, Brian. “Aspects of Irish Personal Names.” Celtica 18
(1986): 151–84.
Russell, Paul. “Patterns of Hypocorism in Early Irish Hagiog-
raphy.” In Studies in Irish Hagiography: Saints and Schol-
ars, edited by John Carey et al., 237–49. Dublin: Four Courts
Press, 2001.
See also Annals and Chronicles; Christianity,
Conversion to; Genealogies; Hagiography
and Martyrologies; LanguagesPILGRIMS AND PILGRIMAGE
Because of minimal documentation, we often know
little more about medieval Irish pilgrims than their
names and where they died, though their activity must
have played an important role in the religious life of
Ireland during the Middle Ages. St. Colum Cille was
among the first of the Irish peregrini to leave their
native country and go on pilgrimage abroad, and he
was followed by many others who traveled to the Euro-
pean continent, spreading the faith and seeking a
higher place in heaven. Their numbers declined after
bishops ordained in Ireland were banished from the
Carolingian Empire at the Council of Châlons-sur-
Saone in 813, after which the Irish Church appears to
have encouraged more pilgrimage at home. Neverthe-
less, individual pilgrims continued to go to Rome
throughout the medieval period, the reasons for doing
so summed up by the words of Celedabhaill, abbot of
Bangor, quoted in the Annals of the Four Masters
under the year 956. There were doubtless more pil-
grims to Rome than the Irish kings and clerics listed
in the Annals, as evidenced by the thirteenth-century
pewter pilgrim badge bearing images of SS. Peter and
Paul found in the Old Dublin excavations, which also
produced an inscribed ampulla of the same period
probably brought back as a souvenir from the shrine
of St. Wulfstan in Worcester.
Historical sources record Irish pilgrims journeying
to Santiago de Compostela from the thirteenth to the
fifteenth century, but art historical evidence could push
this back to the twelfth. There are fifteenth-century
Irish carvings representing St. James, with his stick,
wallet, and shell. A pilgrim shell was found in a medi-
eval burial in Athenry, County Galway, and other pil-
grimage souvenirs are also known.
By far the most important place of pilgrimage in
Ireland during the Middle Ages was St. Patrick’s
Purgatory in Lough Derg, where a Welsh knight
Owein claimed to have seen the torments and joys of
the Otherworld in an island cave there around 1140.
His story spread quickly and brought pilgrims to the
small Donegal lake from many parts of Europe, from
Hungary to Catalonia, many of whom wrote down theirPERSONAL NAMES