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ArchivesRe: the name molly -origins
in reply to a message by mikheala
Mael does mean bald and by extension someone with a tonsure, a religious devotee or disciple, and yes the Gaels did use Mael as a prefix to saints names so e.g. instead of giving their child the potentially blasphemous name of Colm or Columba, they called him Malcolm, i.e. devotee of Columba.
However I can't think of any female names which have this prefix, and as far as I know a 'bald' devotee could only be male - nuns doen't have tonsures. I find it unlikely that the Irish would have associated the female name Molly with Mael.
But that's just my opinion I'm in no way an expert.
“Man can believe the impossible, but can never believe the improbable” - Oscar Wilde
However I can't think of any female names which have this prefix, and as far as I know a 'bald' devotee could only be male - nuns doen't have tonsures. I find it unlikely that the Irish would have associated the female name Molly with Mael.
But that's just my opinion I'm in no way an expert.
This message was edited 9/14/2009, 12:31 PM
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Replies
I agree - I can't think of any female name with the prefix Mael/Maol.
Actually now that I think of it there is a journalist called Maol Muire Tynan - but she's the only woman I can think of.
Actually now that I think of it there is a journalist called Maol Muire Tynan - but she's the only woman I can think of.
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According to Ó Corráin & Maguire, Maol Mhuire (earlier Máel Muire) is the only case of compound with Máel/Maol name that was used for boys and for girls ("Máel Muire occurs frequently as a girl's name.", p. 130). Since they are exhaustive with their data and mark as "m and f." or "f and m." any name documented in both genders, even a single time, if the rest of Máel/Maol names are marked as "m.", that is that they were exclusively masculine and Máel Muire/Maol Mhuire is an exception.
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so mael and maol are versions of the same word/name? interesting.....so is mhuire a version of mary? and then would mael mhuire mean devotee of mary or follower of mary?
i found that there is a celtic folk tale called maol a chliobain about a girl named maol. it was rewritten and the girl's name was changed to Molly, but to me this is just a coincidence. a non gaelic australian man rewrote the story. that is all that i found about the name maol.
This is a really great site! thanks for the wealth of knowledge and the help.
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ok...yes, so i found that mhuire and muire are versions of mary. so if mael mhuire and maol mhuire are common names in ireland meaning devotee of mary, maybe instead of calling a woman with this name by maol mhuire, they developed a nickname for her. and that's how the molly came about as being linked with the name mary.
....a combination of the two words mael and mhuire? sounding like molly... uh....maybe? so could molly possibly mean either follower/disciple of mary of just plain disciple? because it is said often on some sites that molly is linked with the name maeili, which is linked to mael, meaning disciple.
also in irish "mol" ,means to praise and in welsh "moli" means to praise. any possible connections to the name maol, or molly? in the irish language is the word mol related to word maol? like is it a different tense of the same word? because i know that to praise can be a part of what it is to be a disciple.
....a combination of the two words mael and mhuire? sounding like molly... uh....maybe? so could molly possibly mean either follower/disciple of mary of just plain disciple? because it is said often on some sites that molly is linked with the name maeili, which is linked to mael, meaning disciple.
also in irish "mol" ,means to praise and in welsh "moli" means to praise. any possible connections to the name maol, or molly? in the irish language is the word mol related to word maol? like is it a different tense of the same word? because i know that to praise can be a part of what it is to be a disciple.
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Molly is a nickname for Mary because in the Middle Ages some names that had Rs were changed to another consonant for nicknames because the Anglo-Saxons couldn't pronounce Rs very well.
This is how we get Molly from Mary, as well as Sally from Sarah, Hal from Harry, Dolly from Dorothy, Bob from Robert, Dick from Richard, etc.
This is how we get Molly from Mary, as well as Sally from Sarah, Hal from Harry, Dolly from Dorothy, Bob from Robert, Dick from Richard, etc.
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ok. that makes sense. molly is an english name then. i thought it was irish. it's really confusing. there is alot of confusion about the name molly out there on the web. thanks again for all of the help.
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