Etymology of given name "Merran".....

JayPee · Post by **JayPee** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:04 pm

Does anyone have any insight into the feminine given name "Merran"?
One of my favourite etymology sites ( http://www.behindthename.com/ ) ignores this one completely. LDS sorts this along with "Marjory"

Am I missing something?
- JayPee

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:26 pm

JayPee wrote:Does anyone have any insight into the feminine given name "Merran"?
One of my favourite etymology sites ( http://www.behindthename.com/ ) ignores this one completely. LDS sorts this along with "Marjory"
Am I missing something?
- JayPee

Were it "Mirren" then that's a pet form of Marion.

David

JayPee · Post by **JayPee** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 1:22 am

No, this one is definitely "Merran". I checked the 1881 LDS census CDs for exact spellings, and there are about 50 in the "Scotland Highlands" region -- the region in which I'm interested. There are an additional 130 or so with variations in spelling (including the Mirren that you offered).
I think another one of those Christmas wishes is to bring back some of the ancestors from the 1880s, so I could actually *hear* them speak; that might give a clue about where the names originated. (Or, I could just ask them

)
- JayPee

[Later]That didn't sound right ... I didn't mean to say "no", as in "you're wrong" -- thanks for the offer offer of "Marion" as a possible origin.

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:11 pm

JayPee wrote:No, this one is definitely "Merran". I checked the 1881 LDS census CDs for exact spellings, and there are about 50 in the "Scotland Highlands" region -- the region in which I'm interested. There are an additional 130 or so with variations in spelling (including the Mirren that you offered).
I think another one of those Christmas wishes is to bring back some of the ancestors from the 1880s, so I could actually *hear* them speak; that might give a clue about where the names originated. (Or, I could just ask them )
- JayPee

Aye weel, now there's the rub

"Mirran" in a broad Ayrshire accent could well have been heard and recorded as ""Merran"

, and given Ayrshire's strong historical links to Argyll and the Western Isles ..............

David

AnnetteR · Post by **AnnetteR** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 7:37 pm

Hi Jaypee

Don't know if this helps but my Grandmother was named Mary Ann but was referred to verbally as Merran. She was born in Renfrewshire but was of Irish decent.

Happy hunting

Annette R

Ted · Post by **Ted** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 7:50 pm

Hi Everyone

For what it is worth - I have an old aunty in Edinburgh called Mary-Ann - her family all called her Merran when she was a kid

Ted

JayPee · Post by **JayPee** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:29 pm

Thanks for the suggestions ... I think I might have "Mary Ann"s in a previous generation, so this is a possibility. I haven't found any Marjory or Marion in my lot.
Will need to investigate further.
Thanks!
- JayPee

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:39 pm

I read somewhere a while ago that many Irish given names were transliterated into the nearest English equivalents. The example that sticks in my my mind is Rosein which frequently becomes Roseann or Rose Ann in Scotland,

I suspect that Merran and Mary Ann may be another such pair.

David

TalkingScot.com

Etymology of given name "Merran".....

Etymology of given name "Merran".....

Re: Etymology of given name "Merran"