Names.—So with regard to names. If the children of a family were dying in infancy, one after the other, it was thought that, by changing the name, the evil would be counteracted. The new name was called a ‘Road name’ (Ainm Rathaid), being that of the first person encountered on the road when going with the child to be baptized. It was given ‘upon the luck’ (air sealbhaich) of the person met.
Names.—So with regard to names. If the children of a family were dying in infancy, one after the other, it was thought that, by changing the name, the evil would be counteracted. The new name was called a ‘Road name’ (Ainm Rathaid), being that of the first person encountered on the road when going with the child to be baptized. It was given ‘upon the luck’ (air sealbhaich) of the person met.
The Mac-Rories, a sept of the Mac-Larens, in Perthshire, were descendants of one who thus received his name. His parents, having lost a previous child before its baptism, were advised to change the name. They were on their way through the Pass, calledLaìrig Isle, between Loch Erne and Glen-dochart, to have their second child baptized, when they were met by one Rory Mac Pherson. He was an entire stranger to them, but turned back with them, as a stranger ought to do to avoid being unlucky, and the child was called after him.Clann ’ic-Shimigeir, a sept of the Mac Neills, have also a road name.