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ArchivesMy column on Sean (and Shawn and Shaun)
Here is the link to today's column:
https://omaha.com/life-entertainment/local/cleveland-evans-sean-has-roots-in-irish-ancestry/article_6e36f098-d10b-11ee-a07c-9fc2d77585fc.html
Here I was surprised again by just how recent the use of Sean in official records in the USA is. When I wrote my column on Ian a while back, I found that Ian really was not used as an official name in an English-speaking context until 1858, with it being automatically translated to "John" otherwise. With Sean, it looks like it was not used in an English speaking context until the late 19th century in Ireland, and wasn't used in the USA until the 1920s! I know I have read many fiction pieces and seen many examples in film and TV of men of Irish descent called Sean in the 19th century or even the 18th century. It turns out that if the characters are not supposedly in an Irish Gaelic speaking context, this is an anachronism, and any man called Sean when people were speaking the Irish language would probably automatically have been called John when people were speaking English before around 1890.
https://omaha.com/life-entertainment/local/cleveland-evans-sean-has-roots-in-irish-ancestry/article_6e36f098-d10b-11ee-a07c-9fc2d77585fc.html
Here I was surprised again by just how recent the use of Sean in official records in the USA is. When I wrote my column on Ian a while back, I found that Ian really was not used as an official name in an English-speaking context until 1858, with it being automatically translated to "John" otherwise. With Sean, it looks like it was not used in an English speaking context until the late 19th century in Ireland, and wasn't used in the USA until the 1920s! I know I have read many fiction pieces and seen many examples in film and TV of men of Irish descent called Sean in the 19th century or even the 18th century. It turns out that if the characters are not supposedly in an Irish Gaelic speaking context, this is an anachronism, and any man called Sean when people were speaking the Irish language would probably automatically have been called John when people were speaking English before around 1890.
This message was edited 2/25/2024, 12:08 PM
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