Sir, - I notice in your issue (June 5th) that Uinsionn Mac Dubhghaill refers to Presbyterians ag pobal Bhaile Mhic Scanlain. Surely it should be Mac Scanlain, the farm of the sons of Scanlan, as it is in the English version of the name. The same would apply to all Ballymacnames, which is the equivalent of the -ingham names in AngloSaxon regions of the British Isles. Land was held by a kin group, the descendants of an immediate ancestor.
Formerly there was a great prejudice against those who wrote down names, personal or topographical, in English spelling. They were accused of ignorance of the meanings or pronunciations if their spellings did not coincide with what the Gaelic Leaguer thought they should be. The anglicised spelling can be a better guide to the original meaning and pronunciation than the spellings devised, often with political bias, in the 19th century. As a child at school I was informed that my name was really O Chianain but I never use that version nowadays. Firstly, there is no evidence that our branch of the Keenans were ever clan chiefs with a right to the particle "O" corresponding to "de" in French and "von" in German. For plebeians like us the usage would have been to use the father's name in the genitive case. Secondly, there is no indication that the initial "C" was aspirated; it is uniformly rendered as "K" in English, never as "Kh". Thirdly, the second "a" was assigned a stroke for lengthening, appropriate to Munster Irish but entirely inappropriate to the Ulster borders where the accent is on the first syllable. Fourthly, the last syllable is uniformly given as -an, never -ain, -ayn, -oyn, or anything like that.
I mention these points because. it is the duty of the historians in every generation to correct the ideological misinterpretations of their immediate predecessors. The duty is more urgent in Ireland where the abuse of distorted history to justify murder campaigns was notorious. - Yours, etc.,
Bluebird Walk,
Chalk Hill Road,
Wembley Park,
Middlesex.