Irish Translation Forum

Hi, I've been wondering about the composition of my surname, Mac Eachmharcaigh.

As I understand it, the name is formed from Mac + the genitive form of the given name Eachmarcach (which is a composition of each (horse) and marcach (rider)). Why does this yield Mac Eachmharcaigh and not Mac Eachmarcaigh? (i.e. I understand the ach -> aigh part but where does the séimhiú come from?)

When a compound word is formed, the second word usually gets a séimhiu. So each + marcach = eachmharcach.

Similarly, sean + fear = seanfhear (old man)

Also If the letters coming together are the same, we hyphenate. So sean + nós = sean-nós, not "seannós".

omg!

This totally explains the other girl on the forum, who's name is Mac Eachmharcaigh, and her display picture is over a horse rider =]

I understand now

Thanks for the quick reply! I was confused because I have come across the séimhiu-less personal name Eachmarcaigh, I guess that must just be a non-standard spelling...

Might be non-standard, might be a mistake. The googlefight was inconclusive due to insufficient data:

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?la ... hmharcaigh

with personal names and placenames they don't always follow the rules as they are so old and have pejorativised