Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-10
STRANGE CHANGES OF NAMES
Made I'm Bringing the Gaelic Into the
Saxon Tongue.
From the London Truth.

From the London Truth
Touching the non-notorious Irish constable,
Jeremiah Sullivan, 1 said to Hibernian &C
quaintanee, How is it that your people, who
are popularity supposed not to spend much
time reading the Scriptures, call about half
their children Jeremiahs or Jerrys What has
made this prophet so popular in Ireland?"
"Oh, said he, ''they are not Jeremiahs at all;
they are Diarmuids or Dermots called after
the famous Diarmuid O'Duibhne, from whom
half the families in Ireland and Scotland are
supposed to be descended. But the slender
D. of the Irish grammarians-i. e.. the d. be-
fore e or T-being sounded something like
u, Diarmuid has come to be considered the
Irish for jeremiah. and is always 80 translated Z"
These so-called translations are az numerous
as they are absurd, in both the Gaelic speak
ing countries. In Ireland ''Domhnall' is in
yariably translated Daniel" though in Scot
land he usually Is content to Anglicise himself
Donald" But, on the other hand. the Scotch
translate Angus" into ''Eneas. I" and '.Eachan''
(genitive Eschain) Hector" See Walter
Scott. who make BIAS air son Edchdi7l'' into
death for the sake Of Hector So .Alister"
from the most ancient times has been
translated" Alexander" which, corrupted to
SANDY" and Saunders" has given nick
name to the whole Scotch race. Una (pro-
nounced Oona(. which. in spite of its Latin
look. is genuine old Irish name. is now in
variably translated .'Winey" and '.Winifred. >"
isle" pronounced Sheela) is turned into
'Julia" and Judy" ''COnor," as a Christian
name. is always translated" Cornelius
But the funniest translation of all is
that of O'Sewell who Cfrom some fanciful
connection with the Irish verb siubhdl-to
walk now calls himself Walker" These
''translations" have arisen partly from ignor-
ance, partly from snobbery and the desire to
appear English partly from the difficulty of
getting a Gaelic name pronounced by the
Saxon, and partly from the desire of the
Catholic priests mot often Gaelic scholars or
antiquarians) to place the child brought to
them for baptism under the protection o. some
recognized saint. When the Irish speaking
godparent suggests ''Domhnalr' or .Diar.
mud, or Una" the priest translates" the
name into Daniel, jeremiah, or winifred, as
the case may be.
So long the practice of translation is con-
fined TO Christian names it does not much mat
ter. but when O'Mulligan 90 Maolagain) ]. trans
lates himself, as he does very frequently. into
Baldwin, because Maol-bald he obviously
lays very dangerous trap for the after-coming
ethnologist. who will certainly take this shame
faced Gael for a bluff Saxon. O'MulIigan. how
ever, generally speaking, makes a Frenchman
OF himself as Molyneux. 0'Birn and O'Brian.
OF Roscommon and Wicklow once content to
mis-spen themselves O'Beirne and OByrne
respectively, have now a great fancy for call
ing themselves Biron and Byron, and some
times De Byron, and desire to be thought of
Norman origin. Nearly all the O'Darcys and
MacDarcys. of Connaught, who used TO be
hpmbly AngliciZed "Darkey' (for the Gaelic
20 Is hard), now have assumed the name and
arms of Darcy from the well-known Meath
fnmiiy OF tina: name whose Norman origin is
undoubted- MacHullen, by the way, does not
seem to know when to stop. He can't let his
name alone l remember when he mOdestly
Anglicized himself Mullins" Now he is Des-
moullns or Demoleyne. God forgive him.