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Please do not add direct links to this web page from your own web site. Instead, link to Scottish Gaelic Given Names.
This is a draft edition! It is very incomplete! See the first part of this article. You have been warned!
As yet, no pre-1600 Scottish Gaelic examples of the name have been found written in standard Gaelic orthography.
The Book of the Dean of Lismore, a collection of Gaelic poetry collected in the early 16th century and recorded in Gaelic but using Scots language style spelling rather than standard Gaelic spelling, includes a poem that refers to a man as the 'son of Margaret' (as a poetical description, not as a byname). Where Watson's modern Gaelic version has "mheic Mairghréid" and M'Lauchlan's modern Gaelic version has "Mhic Mairirid", the original manuscript has "v'merraid" (according to the transcription published in M'Lauchlan) or "vc merraid" (according to the transcription published in Cameron). (Watson, p. 82; M'Lauchlan, OG pp. 114-5; Cameron, p. 101)
Entries in the late 16th century Burgh Court Books for Inverness record the names of a number of women who, based on their full names, were apparently Gaels (although, since they appear in a burgh/town, at least some of them may have been bi-cultural). Examples include:
But these names are being recorded in Scots, not Gaelic. The particular spelling <Marrat> may (or may not) be because it was an attempt to phonetically render a Gaelic form of the name; it is not a standard Scots language diminutive of Margaret.
So while this shows that late 16th century Scottish Gaels were using a name that was recorded in Scots language documents as <Margaret> and other spelling variants and diminutives, it does not tell us what the medieval Gaelic form of that name was.
The Annála Connacht mention the following Irish women in entries for the years indicated:[O'Brien]
But these are the names of Irish Gaels, not Scottish Gaels.
So while this shows that 15th and 16th century Irish Gaels were using a name that was recorded in Gaelic documents as <Margreg> and <Mairghrec>, it does not tell us whether medieval Scottish Gaels were also using the name and, if so, whether they used the same forms of the name.
"Mairead ... Common. Derived from Greek margarites, meaning pearl, which in turn probably derives from the Persian for child of light, following the belief that pearls are formed from dew touched by moonbeams. It became popular in Eastern Europe because of the 3rd century martyr of the name in Antioch. A Saxon St Mairead (c.1046-93), who was probably born in exile in Hungary, married Maol Choluim III (Malcolm III) c. 1069, bringing the name to Scotland. The name of 'the Maid of Norway' (?1283-90), whose death on her way from Norway to take the Scottish throne caused the political in-fighting among the nobility that gave Edward I of England the excuse to intervene. Cognate with Margaret. Occasionally spelt Maighread. See Magaidh, Mairearad, Meig, Peig, Peigi."[Morgan, s.n. Mairead]
"Mairearad ... Occasional. A form of Mairead, occasionally spelt Mairiread or Mairghread. See Mairead."[Morgan, s.n. Mairearad]
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http://MedievalScotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/women/margaret.shtml