Kilmeny
I recently found a poem by the Scotish poet James Hogg called Kilmeny, about a maiden who goes up into the hills and vanishes, only to come back years later having seen paradise.Kilmeny, Kilmeny, where have you been?'
Kilmeny look'd up with a lovely grace,
But nae smile was seen on Kilmeny's face;
As still was her look, and as still was her e'e, 35
As the stillness that lay on the emerant lea,
Or the mist that sleeps on a waveless sea.
For Kilmeny had been, she knew not where, The name appears throughout literature and was in a 20th century poem about a British Ship that disappears in WWI. I can't find any meaning for the name. Did Hogg make it up like Richardson made up Pamela? or does it have a history of use before the poem? Anybody know?
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Kilmeny appears as a placename meaning church of Eithne (Kil is a common prefix in Gaelic placenames)
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/language/gaelic/pdfs/placenamesK-O.pdf
I can't say much on its use as a first name though, other than perhaps it came from a surname spawned from the place? It does seem strange as a female name though.

This message was edited 1/19/2007, 12:30 PM

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