45-693: McAleese or McGillis is an Irish and Scottish surname and is an anglicisation of the Irish Mac Giolla Íosa from the Irish given name Giolla Íosa (Servant of Jesus). This name is common in Derry and in Antrim. Notable people with the surname include: Anglicisation of names The anglicisation of personal names is the change of non-English-language personal names to spellings nearer English sounds, or substitution of equivalent or similar English personal names in
90-420: A toponym as though it was the name of a person. As with other culturo-linguistic groups, other types of surnames were often used as well, including trade-names such as MacGhobhainn , Mac a'Ghobhainn or Mac Gabhainn ( son of the smith ), and physical characteristics such as hair colour. In anglicizing Gaelic names, the prefixes Mac , Nic , and Ó were frequently removed (the name Ó Fathaigh , by example,
135-776: A dot above the letter, but with the introduction of printing with movable type the h was substituted) after a consonant (silencing it, or changing its sound), and for the last vowel to be slender (i or e) if male, the anglicized form of a Gaelic name could look quite different. By example, MacPhearais ( Mac+Pearas = son of Pierce ) has been anglicized as Corish , and MacAonghais has been anglicized as MacAngus , MacInnis , MacInnes , Innis , Innes , and Guinness . As with Gaelic and Germanic surnames, Welsh surnames and Cornish surnames had originally been mostly patronymic , though others contained toponymic elements, or were derived from trades, or personal characteristics. Surnames which remained fixed across generations, passed down along
180-600: A fluidity in how families chose to spell their names. Legal problems caused by spelling variations in Surnames were addressed by the Land Purchases Act. This Act established the principle of idem sonans, that is if differently spelled names "sounded the same," a claim of an unbroken line of ownership could be acknowledged. Since preserving the name's sound was legally important, common forms of Surname changes involved spelling adaptations that helped English readers replicate
225-500: A flying golden ram. The name, however, is probably derived from an older language, such as Pelasgian , which was unknown to those who explained its origin. In his Names on the Globe , George R. Stewart theorizes that Hellespont originally meant something like 'narrow Pontus' or 'entrance to Pontus', Pontus being an ancient name for the region around the Black Sea , and by extension, for
270-457: A forebear, however. Some signified an ancestral people or homeland, such as MacDhubhghaill (son of a dark-haired foreigner; referring to one type of Scandinavian), MacFhionnghaill (son of a fair-haired foreigner; also referring to a Scandinavian people), MacLachlainn or MacLachlainneach (son of a Scandinavian). Others indicated the town or village of a family's origin, sometimes disguised as an ancestor's name as in Ó Creachmhaoil , which prefixes
315-464: A personal name now usually depends on the preferences of the bearer. Name changes are less common today for Europeans emigrating to the United States than they are for people originating in, or descending from those who emigrated from, East Asian countries. Requests that the bearer anglicize their personal name against their wishes are viewed as a form of racism or xenophobia. French immigrants to
360-399: A toponym, its specific language, its pronunciation, and its origins and meaning are all important facts to be recorded during name surveys. Scholars have found that toponyms provide valuable insight into the historical geography of a particular region. In 1954, F. M. Powicke said of place-name study that it "uses, enriches and tests the discoveries of archaeology and history and the rules of
405-633: A wide variety of formats, including hard-copy topographic maps as well as digital formats such as geographic information systems , Google Maps , or thesauri like the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names . In 2002, the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names acknowledged that while common, the practice of naming geographical places after living persons (toponymic commemoration) could be problematic. Therefore,
450-522: Is Chief Seattle . The name Seattle is an anglicisation of the modern Duwamish conventional spelling Si'ahl , equivalent to the modern Lushootseed spelling siʔaɫ Salishan pronunciation: [ˈsiʔaːɬ] . He is also known as Sealth , Seathle , Seathl , or See-ahth . Toponym Toponymy , toponymics , or toponomastics is the study of toponyms ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names ), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym
495-627: Is called toponymist . The term toponymy comes from Ancient Greek : τόπος / tópos , 'place', and ὄνομα / onoma , 'name'. The Oxford English Dictionary records toponymy (meaning "place name") first appearing in English in 1876. Since then, toponym has come to replace the term place-name in professional discourse among geographers . Toponyms can be divided in two principal groups: Various types of geographical toponyms (geonyms) include, in alphabetical order: Various types of cosmographical toponyms (cosmonyms) include: Probably
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#1732852027452540-642: Is still the case in Iceland , as exemplified by the singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir and former Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson ). When referring to siblings collectively (or to members of a family or clan that share a "Mac-" surname), the prefix for son or daughter was pluralised. By example, MacAoidh (son of Hugh ) becomes MicAoidh ( sons of Hugh ) and Clann MhicAoidh ( literally children/descendants of Hugh ). The Jacksons in English (with Jack being derived from John) would in Gaelic be rendered a' MhicSheain (
585-449: Is the general term for a proper name of any geographical feature , and full scope of the term also includes proper names of all cosmographical features. In a more specific sense, the term toponymy refers to an inventory of toponyms, while the discipline researching such names is referred to as toponymics or toponomastics . Toponymy is a branch of onomastics , the study of proper names of all kinds. A person who studies toponymy
630-749: The Cold War . German Americans are the largest ethnic group in the USA numbering at almost 50 million or roughly 1/6th of US population. Immigration from Germany can be traced back to 1608 (Jamestown, VA), but migration was highest between the mid 19th century and early 20th century. From 1876 to 1923, Germany was the largest source of US Immigrants. From 1923 to 1970, it was the 2nd largest source of US Immigrants after Italy. A formal immigration process channeling immigrants through Ellis Island only began in 1892. Immigrants arriving prior to this, did not receive official immigration papers documenting their names. This created
675-525: The Persian Gulf naming dispute . On 20 September 1996 a note on the internet reflected a query by a Canadian surfer, who said as follows: 'One producer of maps labeled the water body "Persian Gulf" on a 1977 map of Iran, and then "Arabian Gulf", also in 1977, in a map which focused on the Gulf States . I would gather that this is an indication of the "politics of maps", but I would be interested to know if this
720-505: The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names recommends that it be avoided and that national authorities should set their own guidelines as to the time required after a person's death for the use of a commemorative name. In the same vein, writers Pinchevski and Torgovnik (2002) consider the naming of streets as a political act in which holders of the legitimate monopoly to name aspire to engrave their ideological views in
765-542: The dissolution of the Soviet Union . After 1830, in the wake of the Greek War of Independence and the establishment of an independent Greek state, Turkish, Slavic and Italian place names were Hellenized, as an effort of "toponymic cleansing." This nationalization of place names can also manifest itself in a postcolonial context. In Canada, there have been initiatives in recent years " to restore traditional names to reflect
810-479: The philologists ." Toponyms not only illustrate ethnic settlement patterns, but they can also help identify discrete periods of immigration. Toponymists are responsible for the active preservation of their region's culture through its toponymy. They typically ensure the ongoing development of a geographical names database and associated publications, for recording and disseminating authoritative hard-copy and digital toponymic data. This data may be disseminated in
855-504: The 1940s, automobile registration documents, along with widespread implementation of social security, played an important role in stabilizing American surnames by legally documenting most of the US population's names. Italian surnames were often anglicized in the United States: for example, the i-ending of a number of Italian names becomes y , e , or ie . When Dutch immigrants arrived in
900-621: The English-speaking world typically knows the French-born theologian Jean Calvin as John Calvin. Such anglicisations became less usual after the sixteenth century. Most Gaelic language surnames of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man have been anglicized at some time. The Gaels were among the first Europeans to adopt surnames during the Dark Ages. Originally, most Gaelic surnames were composed of
945-460: The German composer Johann Christian Bach , the "London Bach", who was known as "John Bach" after emigrating to England. During the time in which there were large influxes of immigrants from Europe to the United States and United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries, the given names and surnames of many immigrants were changed. This became known colloquially as the " Ellis Island Special ", after
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#1732852027452990-550: The Indigenous culture wherever possible ". Indigenous mapping is a process that can include restoring place names by Indigenous communities themselves. Frictions sometimes arise between countries because of toponymy, as illustrated by the Macedonia naming dispute in which Greece has claimed the name Macedonia , the Sea of Japan naming dispute between Japan and Korea , as well as
1035-615: The U.S. immigrant processing center on Ellis Island ; contrary to popular myth, no names were ever legally changed at Ellis Island, and immigrants almost always changed them at their own discretion. Traditionally common Christian given names could be substituted: such as James for the etymologically connected Jacques. Alternatively phonetical similarities, such as Joe for Giò (Giovanni or Giorgio); or abbreviation, Harry for Harilaos, or Ricky for Enrique (Henry), as common in Spanish, instead of for (Ricardo) Richard as in English. The anglicisation of
1080-428: The US, some German Americans chose to blur their connections with their ancestral homeland, by translating part or whole of their surnames into English. Once again, translations that limited change in sound were preferred over those that sounded different. Relative to the sustained German mass immigration during the 19th and early 20th century, this practice of surname translation was unusual and not very widespread. In
1125-464: The United States (both those of Huguenot and French-Canadian background) often accommodated those unfamiliar with French pronunciations and spellings by altering their surnames (or encounter having them altered) in either of two ways: spellings were changed to fit the traditional pronunciation (Pariseau became Parizo, Boucher became Bushey, Mailloux became Mayhew, Cartier became Carter, Carpentier became Carpenter), or pronunciations were changed to fit
1170-532: The United States, often their names got changed. This was either done on purpose, to make the name easier to write and remember, or by accident because the clerk didn't know how to spell the name and wrote it down phonetically. Coastal Salish people were often given "Boston names" by early European settlers. These English names often had similar sounds to original Lushootseed names. When Lushootseed names were integrated into English, they were often recorded and pronounced very differently. An example of this
1215-413: The case of the last two, they are lenited when the intended connotation is "son/daughter of" rather than a surname. By example, if stating that James (Scott) is the son of Calum (Stuart) in Gaelic, it would be phrased Seumas mac Chaluim , as distinct from Seumas MacCaluim for a James with the surname MacCaluim ) with the addition of an h after it (originally, this had been indicated in handscript by
1260-400: The end, so that the such as 'ap Hywell' became Powell , and 'ap Siôn' to Jones or Upjohn . The first generation to adopt this Agmicisation hereafter handed it down unchanged to children. Many Cornish ( Kernewek ) names have been anglicised in similar ways. Anglicisation of non-English-language names was common for immigrants, or even visitors, to English-speaking countries. An example is
1305-531: The first toponymists were the storytellers and poets who explained the origin of specific place names as part of their tales; sometimes place-names served as the basis for their etiological legends. The process of folk etymology usually took over, whereby a false meaning was extracted from a name based on its structure or sounds. Thus, for example, the toponym of Hellespont was explained by Greek poets as being named after Helle , daughter of Athamas , who drowned there as she crossed it with her brother Phrixus on
1350-406: The given name of a child's father, preceded by Mac ( son ) or Nic (or Ní , both being variants of nighean , meaning daughter ) depending on the gender . These surnames would not be passed down another generation, and a woman would keep her birth surname after marriage . The same was originally true of Germanic surnames which followed the pattern [father's given name]+son/daughter (this
1395-567: The male line of descent (provided parents were married) were adopted under the dictate of the English Government from the sixteenth century . As in the Gaelic-speaking areas, many Welsh ( Cymric ) patronyms were anglicised by omitting the prefix indicating son of and either exchanging the father's Welsh forename for its English equivalent, or re-spelling it according to English spelling rules, and, either way, most commonly adding -s to
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1440-626: The most useful geographical reference system in the world. Consistency and accuracy are essential in referring to a place to prevent confusion in everyday business and recreation. A toponymist, through well-established local principles and procedures developed in cooperation and consultation with the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), applies the science of toponymy to establish officially recognized geographical names. A toponymist relies not only on maps and local histories, but interviews with local residents to determine names with established local usage. The exact application of
1485-414: The new map to specify the detailed topographical portrayal and after consulting with and authorization of messr. Theodor von Heuglin and count Karl Graf von Waldburg-Zeil I have entered 118 names in the map: partly they are the names derived from celebrities of arctic explorations and discoveries, arctic travellers anyway as well as excellent friends, patrons, and participants of different nationalities in
1530-466: The newest northpolar expeditions, partly eminent German travellers in Africa, Australia, America ...". Toponyms may have different names through time, due to changes and developments in languages, political developments and border adjustments to name but a few. More recently many postcolonial countries revert to their own nomenclature for toponyms that have been named by colonial powers. Place names provide
1575-454: The original German pronunciation. The First and Second World Wars created pockets of xenophobia against German Americans. During the same period, The Anti-Saloon league , successfully lobbied the Government to enact prohibition, using racist "us vs them" propaganda against German Americans, who owned a large percentage of American breweries. During the window of anti-German hostilities in
1620-622: The other figures in the New Testament similarly. In contrast, translations of the Old Testament traditionally use the original names, more or less faithfully transliterated from the original Hebrew. Transatlantic explorers such as Zuan Chabotto and Cristoforo Colombo became popularly known as John Cabot and Christopher Columbus; English-speakers anglicized and Latinized the name of the Polish astronomer Mikołaj Kopernik to (Nicholas) Copernicus, and
1665-543: The place of non-English personal names. A small number of figures, mainly very well-known classical and religious writers, appear under English names—or more typically under Latin names, in English texts. This practice became prevalent as early as in English-language translations of the New Testament , where translators typically renamed figures such as Yeshu and Simon bar-Jonah as Jesus and Peter , and treated most of
1710-441: The sea itself. Especially in the 19th century, the age of exploration, a lot of toponyms got a different name because of national pride. Thus the famous German cartographer Petermann thought that the naming of newly discovered physical features was one of the privileges of a map-editor, especially as he was fed up with forever encountering toponyms like 'Victoria', 'Wellington', 'Smith', 'Jones', etc. He writes: "While constructing
1755-477: The smith ) were anglicized as McGowan , Gowan , McGavin , and Gavin . In surnames which had been prefixed Mac (which includes most Manx surnames), the final hard c sound remained when the Mac was removed. As Gaelic spelling rules required the first letter of a name preceded by Mac or Nic to be lenited (providing it was a consonant other than l, n, or r, which are not generally lenited in Gaelic, or c or g; although in
1800-440: The social space. Similarly, the revisionist practice of renaming streets , as both the celebration of triumph and the repudiation of the old regime is another issue of toponymy. Also, in the context of Slavic nationalism , the name of Saint Petersburg was changed to the more Slavic sounding Petrograd from 1914 to 1924, then to Leningrad following the death of Vladimir Lenin and back to Saint-Peterburg in 1991 following
1845-406: The sons of John ). Over the centuries, under the influence of post- Medieval English practice , this type of surname has become static over generations, handed down the male lineage to all successive generations so that it no longer indicates the given name of a holder's father any more than the suffix -son on a Germanic language surname does today. Among English-speaking peoples of Gaelic heritage,
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1890-1259: The spelling (Benoît, pronounced French pronunciation: [bənwa] , became Benway, or Bennett / b ɛ n ˈ ɔɪ t / ). Some Greek names are anglicized using the etymologically related name: Agni: Agnes; Alexandros/Alexis: Alexander/Alex; Alexandra: Alexandra/Alex; Andreas: Andrew; Christophoros: Christopher; Evgenios/Evgenis: Eugene/Gene; Eleni: Helen; Georgios/Yorgos: George; Ioannis/Yannis: John; Irini: Irene; Katharini: Catherine/Kate; Markos: Mark; Michail/Michalis: Michael; Nikolaos: Nicholas; Pavlos: Paul; Petros: Peter; Stephanos: Stephen; Theodoros: Theodore/Ted; and so on. Besides simple abbreviation or anglicisation of spelling, there are some conventional English versions of or nicknames for Greek names which were formerly widely used and are still encountered: Hundreds of Spiritual Christian Doukhobors who migrated from Russia to Canada from 1899 to 1930, changed their surnames. Genealogist Jonathan Kalmakoff posted comprehensive lists for Many descendants of Spiritual Christians from Russia in California, whose parents immigrated to Los Angeles (1904–1912), hid their family surnames due to real and perceived ethnic discrimination during
1935-423: The use of Nic as a prefix for daughters has been replaced by Mac , regardless of sex (as per Geraldine McGowan , Alyth McCormack , and Sarah McLachlan ). Wives also began to take on the surnames of their husbands. Another common pattern of surname was similar to that preceded by Mac/Nic, but instead was preceded by Ó or Ui, signifying a grandchild or descendant. Not all Gaelic surnames signified relationship to
1980-451: Was done to avoid upsetting users of the Iran map and users of the map showing Arab Gulf States'. This symbolizes a further aspect of the topic, namely the spilling over of the problem from the purely political to the economic sphere. A geographic names board is an official body established by a government to decide on official names for geographical areas and features. Most countries have such
2025-434: Was sometimes anglicized as Fahey or Fay , identically to the given name; Ó Leannáin and Ó Lionáin have both been anglicized as Lennon ; Ó Ceallaigh and Ó Cadhla have been anglicized as Kelly ). Where they were retained, Mac was often rendered Mc , M', or Mag- (the last is seen in renderings such as Maguire for Mac Uidhir ) and Ó/Ui became O' . MacGhobhainn , Mac a'Ghobhainn and Mac Gabhainn ( son of
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