Hi Ian Thanks for the help. I've another one which I would like some help in translating! Its macuilammacheorishmacneil. I can guess that its: son of William, son of "Heorish" son of Neil, but what is "Heorish"? Also, if I have found entries in the Durness Parish Registers for Hugh Morison(alias Macuillammachustin), would it be certain that he was the brother of John Morison (alias Macuillammachustin)? In this case they both came from Islandhall. Thanks again Claire >-- Original Message -- >From: "Ian Morrison" <ianmorrison> >To: "Claire Atkinson" <claireatkinson>, > "Sutherland-List" <SCT-SUTHERLAND-L> >Subject: Re: [SUT] Naming conventions >Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 06:46:24 -0400 > > >Hi Claire: These particular aliases are known as patronymics. They name up to three (infrequently more) generations of male ancestors [sorry ladies]. In the Durness OPR, the (Gaelic) aliases are recorded phonetically by the ministers, wh >se native tongue was not Gaelic. They are most often mis-spelled and are not always consistent from one record to the next. "Nin" does mean daughter of [ in the Durness OPR at least, the usual being "nic"]. Some times the patronymic is written as on > word; sometimes separately. "Mac" [ son of son] is lenited/aspirated in the genitive case and becomes "mhic" pronounced roughly as 'vic' and usually shortened in the second iteration to 'ic'. The gaelic name itself is also aspirated in the genitive ca >e, often by inserting an "i" at the first vowel. This is according to my very limited understanding of Gaelic. Consequently, the aliases are sometimes difficult to decipher but I should be glad to try to do so for any in the Durness OPR, since I hav > worked on many of them already. Katharine Mackay was: daughter of Donald ( who was) the son of Hugh. John Morrison was: son of William, son of Hugh. His son, William, was, of course: son of John, son of William, son of Hugh, and Ann was: daughte > of John, son of William, son of Hugh. BTW, Uilleam macUisdean Morrison may have been the grandson of Eachan ruadh Morrison( Achinroy in the OPR) meaning Red Hector. There are numerous descendants of this man in the register, including my own ancest >rs. Allowing an average of 30 years per generation, I estimate he lived in the late 17th century to early 18th. Ian, in Ontario, Canada ----- Original Message ----- From: Claire Atkinson Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 5:52 AM To: SCT-SUTHER >AND-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [SUT] Naming conventions Hello List! Following on from some research into Katharine Mackay (I just sent an e-mail about that) I have some questions about naming conventions in Gaelic, and I was wondering if anyone >on the list might know the answers. Katharine Mackay was also known as nin Dholicustian. Does nin mean anything? Maybe "daughter of"? Katharine married John Morison, who was also known as Macuillam Machustan (which I have in other places as Macu >lleam Machustain and Macuileammachustian). When their son William got married, he had an alias of MacEanmacuilammachustian. When their daughter Ann got married, she had an alias of Nin Eanmacuilammachustian. Each seema to have gained an "Ean" >and a "mac" from their father's gaelic name (although in a separate order). I've always thought that "Mac" meant "son of". What does "Ean" mean? Is there a convention for adding bits to a gaelic name when giving names to offspring? Thanks Cl >ire ==== SCT-SUTHERLAND Mailing List ==== Please visit our NEW POSH web site at www.sutherlandheritage.com ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.c >m/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237