Ragnall (name)

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

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 + valr
Meaning"advice", "decision" + "ruler"
Other names
Cognate(s)see list
Derivative(s)Raghnall, Raonall, Raonull

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 "advice", "decision"; and valr, meaning "ruler".[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 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, Randal, Rannal, and Ronald.[7] Note that while Randal is commonly used as an Anglicised form of the Gaelic name, it is etymologically unrelated.

The final -ll sound of the Gaelic names are de-vocalized, 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]

List of cognates

List of people with the given name

As a patronymic

See also
  • All pages with titles containing Ragnall

References
  1. 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. 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. Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 394, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
  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, 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
  9. Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 234, 228–229, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
  10. Reaney, Percy Hilde; Wilson, Richard Middlewood (2006), A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.), London: Routledge, p. 2626, ISBN 0-203-99355-1
  11. Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 433, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
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