> 1. When I was in college, I did a research paper on the origin of my name > "O'Neal". Since I had no preconceived notions about the name, and no > genealogical experience, I merely reported what I found which was this: > > a) The name originally stemmed from a Norse god, "Njal", pronounced, nee-aal'. > The "a" has a small "o" above it, and in fact is not an "a", but one of the > three additional letters in the modern Dano-Norwegian alphabet, and pronounced > differently (ask one of your Scandinavian friends). There is a famous early > literary work called "Njal's Saga". > > b) The name evolved over the centuries as Njall. In Dano-Norwegian, a "j" is > pronounced as "ee". Then it became Niall (an "i" is also pronouced as "ee" in > Dano-Norwegian). At one point there was a "Niall of the Nine Hostages" who is > named as the progenitor of the O'Neal/O'Neall/O'Neill name. Then, some time > later his descendants, the Irish "clan" of O'Neal's used the IRISH appelation > "Ui" to designate "descendant of" or "son of" as in Ui' Niall or "descendants > of Niall". > Bob O'Neal in Tacoma It's interesting that the Celtic language had a direct influence from Norse at such an early date (c. 400). This was well before the Norse invasions of Ireland. How do you sources document this connection? Anyway, I've decided to use the Soundex version of my name. Jon O540