NSayed6626 wrote: I'm often confused about the origins of the Looney/Luna name myself. Some people swear that it's old Irish, and now some people say that it's originally Spanish, from the time of the inquisition. In reply to Joyce Luna's: According to Mrs. Jane Luna, on page 4 of "The Descendants of Peter Luna (1759 - 1851). Quote:" Our Peter Luna adopted the spelling Luna for his surname, said to be the old original spelling of the name." I have written to this list before on this subject, and it is somewhere in the archives in greater detail. If we assume that Peter is the son of the immigrant Robert Looney from the Isle of Man (this is not my husband's line so I don't know the proofs), the old Manx pronunciation of Looney (and current colloquial pronunciation) is close to lu-na (the "u" is as in "rule" and the "a" as the "e" in "misery"). Peter just decided to spell the name the way they pronounced it. Looney is an old Manx name derived from the Gallic Mac Giolla Dhomhnaigh, the Lord's servant, and O'Luinigh, descendant of Luinigh (which means armed). Mac Guilley Manx names once consisted of three parts, Mac=son, guilley=boy, and a saint's name. It is assumed that these people once were dedicated in some fashion to a certain saint. The names eroded down to a few syllables over time. And also spelling rules evolved over the centuries. MacGuillowny is found in 1498, Gilownie and MacLawney in 1540, Lownie and Lewney in 1623, Looney in 1644. Looney is still a very common Manx name, especially in Maughold (pronounced Mac-uld) Parish. This is taken from Surnames of the Manx, which is in turn derived largely from the definitive work, Manx Personal Names (1937). Or maybe Peter just didn't want to get the funny looks that one gets when you tell them your name is Looney. Teresa McVeigh New Orleans, LA

The simplest explanation of the spelling "Luna" for the Manx name most commonly rendered as "Looney", is that people in the southern states, especially those in the southern highlands, where most of the early 18th and 19th century Looneys lived, pronounced the letter "a" on the end of a word, especially a name, the same way they pronounced "y" or "i" or "ey" or "ie" on the end of a name. If you look at the spelling of names in contemporary records of the time, you will see this over and over again. In another of my family lines, the Swiss surname "Hagi" was rendered by most Americans over time as Hagy or Hagey. But one line in southwestern Virginia spelled the name Haga. The name, though ending with an "a" instead of the other spelllings, was pronounced the same initially. Like Luna, though, over time it came to be pronounced as most people today pronounce words that end in "a". One of my great grandmothers, whose first name was Didema (born in 1860), had her name pronounced as if it were "Didemey." Even today in southwestern Virginia, two of my mother's sisters, whose names are Geneva, and Ada, are called "Genevey", and "Adey", never as their names would seem by most to be pronounced. If Peter Luna were able to hear how his descendants pronounce his last name today, he would be shocked. Wayne Modlin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Soheyr Azar" <SoheyrAzar@cox.net> To: <LOONEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 5:44 PM Subject: RE: Luna name derivation [was Peter Luna] > NSayed6626 wrote: > I'm often confused about the origins of the Looney/Luna name myself. > Some > people swear that it's old Irish, and now some people say that it's > originally Spanish, from the time of the inquisition. > > In reply to Joyce Luna's: > According to Mrs. Jane Luna, on page 4 of "The Descendants of Peter Luna > (1759 - 1851). > Quote:" Our Peter Luna adopted the spelling Luna for his surname, said to > be the old original spelling of the name." > > I have written to this list before on this subject, and it is somewhere in > the archives in greater detail. If we assume that Peter is the son of the > immigrant Robert Looney from the Isle of Man (this is not my husband's > line > so I don't know the proofs), the old Manx pronunciation of Looney (and > current colloquial pronunciation) is close to lu-na (the "u" is as in > "rule" > and the "a" as the "e" in "misery"). Peter just decided to spell the name > the way they pronounced it. > > Looney is an old Manx name derived from the Gallic Mac Giolla Dhomhnaigh, > the Lord's servant, and O'Luinigh, descendant of Luinigh (which means > armed). Mac Guilley Manx names once consisted of three parts, Mac=son, > guilley=boy, and a saint's name. It is assumed that these people once were > dedicated in some fashion to a certain saint. The names eroded down to a > few > syllables over time. And also spelling rules evolved over the centuries. > > MacGuillowny is found in 1498, Gilownie and MacLawney in 1540, Lownie and > Lewney in 1623, Looney in 1644. > > Looney is still a very common Manx name, especially in Maughold > (pronounced > Mac-uld) Parish. > > This is taken from Surnames of the Manx, which is in turn derived largely > from the definitive work, Manx Personal Names (1937). > > Or maybe Peter just didn't want to get the funny looks that one gets when > you tell them your name is Looney. > > Teresa McVeigh > New Orleans, LA > > > > > ==== LOONEY Mailing List ==== > This list is dedicated to the search for ancestors of LOONEY, LUNNEY, > LUNA (Scotch-Irish), LEENEY and variations, all of which originated in > County Cork, Ireland. Please refer other researchers to our list. > > > ============================== > New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors > at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: > http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 >