Irish and Scots Female Ancestor Names in Primary Sources
A married woman would take her
husband's surname, but the prefix form was different than the male form.
Ó became Uí and Mac became Mhic. This name
change did not always hide the surname of the woman’s father however. In
traditional Gaelic society some women retained their father's surname due to
the strong sense of family and clan affiliation. This was done when the
woman was the daughter of a land holding family and had high status within
society.
Two examples from the mid to late 1500s
that I located in my own research are: Fionnuala Nic Eáin married
Dónaill Mac Ailín. Her “married name” becomes Fionnuala Mhic Ailín.
In actuality, she retained her maiden name in the community and is listed by that
name in the records. Her name appears crudely anglicised as Finvall
Nikean. Here is an entry from the Argyll records where she appears:
…In the same year (1572) Finvall
Nikean, the wife of Donald M'Alane V'Donile of Dunnad, resigned to James
Scrymgeoure of Dudhope constable of Dundee the twenty shillinglands of
Carnyame, the said Donald warranting the constable free of all harm in respect
of the lands from the heirs of the deceased Lauchlane M'Donald V'Alane.
This
data allowed me to connect Fionnuala Nic Eáin to the House of Dónaill
Mac Ailín’s cousin, a Donnchadh Rua Mac Ailín, who used the clan surname of Mac
Eáin. (the man's name in the above document 'Donald M'Alane
V'Donile' is Dónail Mac Ailín Mhic Dhónaill, the 'Mhic' meaning grandson,
and in some cases, descendant of.)
As you progress with
your genetic genealogy research you will eventually reach a point where records
were not written in modern English. The records are often in Gaelic
or written is an English dialect, such as Lallans or Hiberno-English, with the
surname rendered into phonetic Gaelic.
With men’s names this
does not present too much difficulty if you are familiar with their Gaelic
forms, but, do not overlook the possibility of locating a female ancestor from
this time period. Most records and pre 1600 genealogies tend to feature
only male names. However, in some cases the name of a female ancestor
will appear, but you will need to know how to recognize the surname when you
see it.
Finding the name of a
male ancestor is fairly straight forward. It will appear in some
anglicized or phonetic spelling of the original Gaelic surnames. Most
people are familiar with male surnames in Gaelic; Ó means “descendant
of” and Mac means “son of.” Mag is an alternative
spelling of Mac and was sometimes used when the name that follows it
began with a vowel.
The ladies used a similar system. Girls and unmarried women with an Ó surname are written Ní. A Mac prefix surname is written as Nic.
Another example
connected with the family of Donnchadh Rua Mac Ailín, is Aifric Nic
Dhonnachaidh Rua the wife of Malcolm Scrymgeour. Again, this Gaelic
woman does not use her husband’s surname, but rather a surname that identifies
her clan. In this case once again, to the family of Donnchadh Rua Mac
Ailín of Dun na muc, a thane in Glassary and who held his lands through
Clann Lachlainn. In the actual record her name is recorded as “Effreta
nein Donche roy.”
When you get on the trail of
your Irish and Scottish ancestors be aware of both male and female Gaelic forms
of your surname. This is especially important when your ancestor was from a
Gaelic speaking area. You might make a great find as I have done so several
times now.
Barry R McCain on Amazon
