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The Daltaí Boards » Archive: 2005- » 2005 (November-December) » Archive through December 09, 2005 » Ni Nuallain « Previous Next »

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(Unregistered Guest)
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Posted From: 68.51.xxx.xxx
Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 - 10:03 pm:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

Hi. I live in the US. I feel a closeness to Irish and Celtic things and am interested in learning Gaelic. I would like to change my surname to Ni Nuallain (birth name is Nolan). I've read it pronounced as "New Lawn", "Null-un", "Noo-al-oyne" and "Newell-awn". I am so confused.
I can't go around mispronouncing my own last name!
I appreciate any help you can offer and an audio file would make you my hero - especially if someone else who speaks Irish Gaelic can confirm it.
Again, thank you so much for any help you can give!

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Lughaidh
Member
Username: Lughaidh

Post Number: 1104
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 04:38 am:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

The pronounciation is:

Nee NOO-uh-lawn (with a light n as in "nick") in Munster and Connemara

Nyee NOO-uh-lahn in Donegal. (Nyee is "Nee" with an "n" as in "new").

(Message edited by lughaidh on December 07, 2005)

Tír Chonaill abú!

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Fear_na_mbróg
Member
Username: Fear_na_mbróg

Post Number: 873
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 07:16 am:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

Rather than going the "whole hog" and changing your name, is there any facility by which you can use your name as it is in your native language?

For instance, let's say a person's name here in Ireland is Thomas Kelly; if he wants to get a Government Age Card, then he can fill out the form and write "Tomás Ó Ceallaigh", and no-one will bat an eyelid... sure I did it myself!

They treat passports differently though... but still they're not OVERLY pedantic. For instance, I have a friend called "Deborah", and on her passport, her name is "Debbie". Similarly they won't say anything if you spell your name differently (eg. Pádraic instead of Padraig).

Fáilte Roimh Cheartúcháin

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Dennis
Member
Username: Dennis

Post Number: 725
Registered: 02-2005


Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 11:10 am:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

Don't let the court overlook the acute accent marks! They are part of the pronunciation.

Ní Nualláin

Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat! The best of luck!

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Seosamh Mac Muirí (Unregistered Guest)
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Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 01:00 pm:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

A word of warning. Your people before you may never have used the name as you have it. If they were associated with south and west Ulster their surname was most probably Ó hUltacháin. The same assimilation happened, from Ó hUltacháin to Nolan, in north Connacht. I know one section of a family (an chuid a bhfuil Gaeilg acu) that has moved back to the original Ó hUltacháin.

For a female, Ní Ultacháin (or Uí Ultacháin, depending) ought to be appropriate with the name.

Whatever you do, your effort is admirable. If there's a way of stalling the appearance in court until you're more certain about the area of origin it may be no harm to stall.

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(Unregistered Guest)
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Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 01:25 pm:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

Do the fadas in a name cause much difficulty? When I order new checks and the like, will it cause problems?

Thanks so much everyone for the help.
I was able to hear it said here http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1002/9news.html by watching news clips with Irene Ní Nualláin
Thanks again!

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Dennis
Member
Username: Dennis

Post Number: 728
Registered: 02-2005


Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 01:31 pm:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

quote:

Do the fadas in a name cause much difficulty? When I order new checks and the like, will it cause problems?

It may depend on the bank, but those and other business/govt. institutions throughout the country seemed to have geared up pretty well to cater to the acute accents in Spanish names such as Carlos María Domínguez. Make the fadas official. If your local electric utility can't manage them on the bill, oh well.

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Tomás Ó Nualláin (Unregistered Guest)
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Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 02:43 pm:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

According to the geneology sites the surname ‘Nualláin’ is rooted in the Irish word “uaisle,”>Nobilityl! The Nolans are the descendants of the Ó Nualláin who were located in the Barony of Forth in County Carlow, where they were known as “Princes of Foharta!!!>major landowners circa 1545 a.d.! Today the surname Ó Nualláin is ranked as the fourtieth most numerous name in Ireland. Leinster is the Province in which most of the Nolans reside, the name being fourth in Co. Carlow, fifth in Co. Kildare and sixth in Co. Wicklow(Cill Mhantáin, m’áit bhreithe!)

Aire! Ná clois go gcloisfidh tú!! I submit that the surname Ó Nualláin is rooted in the Irish “Uaill a ligean>uallán>uallachán>Nuallán!”

Mar sin, before you change your surname to Ní Nualláin, you need to find out if you are descended from Irish Nobility(Oxymoran?!!) or if your father was a wailer and howler when he was on the drink!!!

Le meas,

Tomás Ó Nualláin



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