New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesA peculiar request
So I have this friend named Daniel and he recently told me how much he liked the Celtic spelling of his name. Now for the life of me I can't remember how he spelled it because he rattled off the letters so fast, but I would really like to know. All I remember is that there is a letter in the name not found on a typical keyboard (perhaps something like the "a" and "e" combined. I'm really sorry I don't know what that letter is called and am feeling rather stupid right now) and I think he said there was an accent on one of the letters. I am really hoping that someone can help me out. I have been searching google and this website was the closest thing I found to what I was looking for. If someone could please help me find the celtic spelling of Daniel I would be so grateful! Hopefully I will recognize it when I see it.
1
Replies
Another Irish form of Daniel is Dónal / Dónall. It's more common than Dainéal. I live in Ireland and I've never met anyone called Dainéal, but I know a few Dónals.
1
Google has a few Irish Dainéals, mostly on Bebo and under 20, so it might be a recent invention.
1
Dónal (also spelled Domhnall and Domnall) has nothing to do with Daniel:
"Since the seventeenth century Domnall has everywhere been equated with the biblical Daniel, a name with which it has not connection."
Irish Names, by Donnchadh Ó Corráin and Fidelma Maguire, Dublin, 1990 (2nd ed.) (p. 75)
"From the seventeenth century Domhnall has been anglicised as Daniel, in other words he has been equated with the biblical character. The two names have no affinity. In Scotland Domhnall has been anglicised Donald."
A-Z of Irish Names for Children, by Diarmaid Ó Muirithe, Dublin, 2007 (p. 69)
"Since the seventeenth century Domnall has everywhere been equated with the biblical Daniel, a name with which it has not connection."
Irish Names, by Donnchadh Ó Corráin and Fidelma Maguire, Dublin, 1990 (2nd ed.) (p. 75)
"From the seventeenth century Domhnall has been anglicised as Daniel, in other words he has been equated with the biblical character. The two names have no affinity. In Scotland Domhnall has been anglicised Donald."
A-Z of Irish Names for Children, by Diarmaid Ó Muirithe, Dublin, 2007 (p. 69)
1
Perhaps...
Dónal is just used to be Irish for Daniel because it is similar in sound, though not related? Kind of like Saraid or Sorcha for Sarah.
Dónal is just used to be Irish for Daniel because it is similar in sound, though not related? Kind of like Saraid or Sorcha for Sarah.
1
In the 17th c., since Dónal sounded vaguely similar to Daniel (in fact, because they had some common letters: D-N-L) it was anglicized as Daniel. So it was the other way (Daniel was the English for Dónal).
During the Gaelic Revival, a lot of public figures irishized wrongly their names, in some cases in good faith and by ignorance (they didn't have great knownlege of Irish and honestly thought that some similar names were equivalent) and in other cases because the Irish form was "not Irish enough". In some other cases it is very possible that the original name, used in real life by family and friends, was the Irish one but since the official use of Irish language was banned in official documents (also the registration of given names) the official name was the English one; then, the personage had in fact two different names, not equivalents. This situation spreaded the wrong equivalences even in public states.
That is why is so hard to argue with Irish people that some names are not the same, especially if you are an immigrant in Ireland (as it is my case), and that is why I have gotten used to quote Ó Corráin & Maguire and Ó Muirithe in relation to wrong equivalences for Irish names.
The problem with summerRaine's post was that it presented Dónal as "another Irish form of Daniel", which is not true, instead of present it as the possible form that Kaitlin was looking for even if it was an unrelated name.
During the Gaelic Revival, a lot of public figures irishized wrongly their names, in some cases in good faith and by ignorance (they didn't have great knownlege of Irish and honestly thought that some similar names were equivalent) and in other cases because the Irish form was "not Irish enough". In some other cases it is very possible that the original name, used in real life by family and friends, was the Irish one but since the official use of Irish language was banned in official documents (also the registration of given names) the official name was the English one; then, the personage had in fact two different names, not equivalents. This situation spreaded the wrong equivalences even in public states.
That is why is so hard to argue with Irish people that some names are not the same, especially if you are an immigrant in Ireland (as it is my case), and that is why I have gotten used to quote Ó Corráin & Maguire and Ó Muirithe in relation to wrong equivalences for Irish names.
The problem with summerRaine's post was that it presented Dónal as "another Irish form of Daniel", which is not true, instead of present it as the possible form that Kaitlin was looking for even if it was an unrelated name.
1