Ragnall (name)

For the place, see Ragnall.

Ragnall
Raghnall in a Gaelic type, note the lenited g in the name (gh) once appeared in Irish orthography with a dot above it, as pictured.
GenderMasculine
Language(s)Old Irish, Middle Irish/Middle Gaelic
Origin
Language(s)Old Norse
Word/nameRøgnvaldr, Rǫgnvaldr, Rögnvaldr
Derivationregin + valdr
Meaning"(German) Gods", "powerful"
Other names
Cognate(s)see list
Derivative(s)Raghnall, Raonall, Raonull

Ragnall, Raghnall, Raonall, and Raonull are masculine personal names or given names in several Gaelic languages.

Ragnall occurs in Old Irish,[1] and Middle Irish/Middle Gaelic.[2][3] It is a Gaelicised form of the Old Norse Røgnvaldr, Rǫgnvaldr, Rögnvaldr.[1][4] This Old Norse name is composed of two elements: regin, meaning "(Germanic) Gods"; and valdr, meaning "powerful".[5] It has also been suggested that Ragnall could also represent the Old Norse Ragnarr as well.[6] Ragnall can be Anglicised as Ranald and Ronald, and Latinised as Reginald, Reginaldus.[3]

The modern spelling is Raghnall in Scottish Gaelic and either Raghnall or Raonull in Irish. Anglicised forms of Raghnall include: Ranald, Rannal, and Ronald.[7]

The final -ll sound of the Gaelic names are de-vocalized[clarification needed], and to non-Gaelic-speakers this suggests -d sound. In this way the name is similar to the various forms of the Gaelic Domhnall, which can be Anglicised as Donald.[8]

  1. ^ a b Reaney, Percy Hilde; Wilson, Richard Middlewood (2006), A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.), London: Routledge, p. 2668, ISBN 0-203-99355-1
  2. ^ Woolf, Alex (2009), "Scotland", in Stafford, Pauline (ed.), A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland, c.500-c.1100, Blackwell Companions to History, Blackwell Publishing, p. 254, ISBN 978-1-4051-0628-3
  3. ^ a b Sellar, W. D. H. (2000), "Hebridean Sea Kings: The Successors of Somerled, 1164-1316", in Cowan, Edward J.; McDonald, R. Andrew (eds.), Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages, East Linton: Tuckwell Press, p. 187, ISBN 1-86232-151-5
  4. ^ Downham, Clare (2007), Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014, Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, p. 3, ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hanks-394 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Byrne, Francis John (2008), "Ireland before the battle of Clontarf", in Ó Cróinín, D (ed.), Prehistoric and Early Ireland, A New History of Ireland, vol. 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 855, ISBN 978-0-19-821737-4
  7. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 355, 407, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
  8. ^ Black, George Fraser (1946), The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History, New York: New York Public Library, p. 682