[antir-heralds] name help - Eilionoira de Carrighow

[Judy Harcus]

I was talking to a lady a couple of weeks ago who is currently using the 
name "Eilionoira de Carrighow" and who is thinking of registering her 
name and arms.  She's not from my area but I offered to help her out.  
She has done some research but has lost some of the source information 
as well as I'm not sure of the reliability of it.  The closest I have 
been able to come is Elianora (possibly Elienora or Elionora those these 
may be too late) de Cargowe (or de Carghow) but I don't have much in the 
way of name resources so was mostly looking on line.  I have found 
Eilionoir (without the final a) on line but all in baby name sources so 
not reliable.  Her persona is from around 1230 in what is now Cargo, 
Cumbria near Carlisle, an area which was sometimes part of Scotland. 

The Elianora is one of the alternate spellings for Eleanor found in 
Talan Gwynek's article "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English 
Surnames" (www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/reaney.cgi?Eleanor).

The Academy of St. Gabriel report 2697 
(http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/2697.txt) lists 
(edited to show just relevant names).  This document also mentioned that 
'a' was sometimes added to the end in the latinized form of some of the 
names:
- in Provence:
Elionor 12th-13th centuries, 15th century [1,2,3]
Elienor 12th-13th centuries [2]
- in England:
Elianora 1303, 1346, 1483
Elinora 1274
Elyenora 1273
Elianor 1581 [9]
Elionora 1591
Elianora 1591

The National Archives lists a document with the spelling Cargowe 
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?queryType=1&resultcount=1&Edoc_Id=7710326

The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and 
Cumberland by Joseph Nicolson, Richard Burn (p 42) mentions "'the manor 
of Carghow, in Cumberland (which of a long time had belonged to the 
barons of Kendal" (found on Google Books).  Other spellings I found on 
line were Craghow, Carguow but not from sites I would consider reliable.

The following is some information she sent to me:
The "Scots Book" [which she had originally given me as the source for 
her first name] was a volume I found in our local library, in the 
history section.  I did a Google Book search for that title and came up 
with several listings, of various publication dates (the earliest one 
about 1935, which fit's close to what I remember) and the author's name 
listed is Ronald MacDonald Douglas.  I seem to recall that there was a 
section in the appendix about Gaelic, which not only listed a few words, 
but also some femminine and masculine names to show the differeces in 
spelling between Gaelic and English.  And unfortunately, as I discovered 
a year or so ago, this book has been cycled out of the library 
collection.  I'm still looking through my notebooks of information to 
see if I wrote the biblio info for it down, anywhere!
 
As far as "Eilionoira" is concerned, I guess I'm probably not nearly so 
emotionally invested in the exact spelling of the name, as I am in how 
it's pronounced.  I would prefer to keep the 'a' at the end of the name, 
and that it be pronounced more like, "E- laya-nora", as opposed to 
"Ela-nora".   And I would prefer to keep the beginning initial "E", 
rather than go to a spelling which begins with "A"  (don't want to have 
to buy a new initial stamp!  grin).  The spelling you mentioned, 
"Elianora" doesn't look too bad.  And I've also seen it as, "Eleanora".  
As I say, I don't might learning a new way to spell it, but I'd rather 
not have to get used to a new way have it pronounced. 
 
"Carrighow" is the easier of the two names to document, although 
possibly not in this exact spelling.  This name comes from a small Manor 
in Northwest Cumbria, England.  The manor, today known as the Village of 
Cargo, was originally part of the demensne of Carlisle (Castle).  The 
first recorded mention of it was sometime in the mid-to late 1100's (I 
have the exact year, but just not readily at hand at this moment!).  
Through the years, the name of the village has been variously 
spelled Craghow, Cargow, Carghow, Cargeau, etc. (depending on what 
accounts your're reading!).   And I have a record from some time in the 
13 or 1400's that mentions a Robert de Cargo, so I know the name of the 
village WAS used as a surname.  It's also listed in Black's Surnames of 
Scotland as a Galloway surname, spelled MacCargo, Makargo, M'Kergue, and 
McCarge (page 465).  Tracking the history (and various spellings) of the 
name Cargo has become kind of a hobby for me in the last few years 
because, mundanely, Cargo is my birth name (don't remember if I told you 
that, or not!).  Supposedly, my ancestors came from the Galloway area of 
Scotland, which is just a very short way across the modern border from 
where Cargo is now located in England.  But, at one time, the village 
was part of Scotland.  Hence, my persona nationality is Scottish, not 
English.

I'm hoping some of you name gurus can help us get this as close as possible.

Thanks,
Alicia