Aengus is a masculine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

in Irish. It is composed of the Celtic elements meaning "one" and "choice". It is the Irish form of the Scottish Gaelic '' Aonghas'', '' Aonghus'' (although ''Aonghus'' is also used as an alternative spelling of ''Aengus'' in Ireland). The names are derived from the Old Irish given name ''Oíngus.'' These Gaelic names are Anglicised as ''

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * Angu ...

'' or, less frequently, as ''Aeneas''. The earliest form of these names occurs in

Adomnán Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (, la, Adamnanus, Adomnanus; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and saint. He was the author of the ''Life of Co ...

's '' Vita Columbae'' (''Life of

Columba Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is toda ...

'') as ''Oinogusius'', ''Oinogussius''. According to historian

Alex Woolf Alex Woolf (born 12 July 1963) is a British medieval historian and academic. He specialises in the history of Britain and Ireland and to a lesser extent Scandinavia in the Early Middle Ages, with a particular emphasis on interaction and compa ...

, the early Gaelic form of the name, ''Oengus'', was borrowed from the British Pictish ''Onuist'', which appears in British as ''Ungust''. However, ''Oengus'' may have been used since the 5th century in Ireland, implying that the names ''Oengus'' and ''Onuist'' could have developed independently from each other. Woolf derived all these names from Celtic ''*Oinogustos'', which linguist John Kneen analyzes as ''*oino-gustos'' meaning "one-choice". which is a transcription of Woolf also stated that between about AD 350 and AD 660, the

Insular Celtic Insular Celtic languages are the group of Celtic languages of Brittany, Great Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Brittany, ...

dialects underwent changes which included the loss of the final syllables and unstressed vowels, transforming ''*Oinogustos'' to ''*Oingust''.

People with the given name

Aengus Finnan Aengus Finnan (born January 31, 1972) is a Canadian folk musician and arts organiser. Finnan was born in Dublin, Ireland, and grew up in Ontario, Canada. In 2003, he was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal for his humanitarian an ...

, (born 1972), Canadian folk musician * Aengus Finucane, (1932–2009), Roman Catholic missionary of the Spiritan Fathers order *

Aengus Fanning Aengus Fanning (22 April 1942 – 17 January 2012) was an Irish journalist and editor of the '' Sunday Independent'' from 1984 until his death in 2012. Originally from Tralee in County Kerry, he was also a former editor of farming for the ''Irish ...

, (1942–2012), Irish journalist and former editor of farming of the ''Irish Independent'' * Aengus Mac Grianna (born 1964), newsreader *

Aengus Ó Snodaigh Aengus Ó Snodaigh (; born 31 July 1964) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician, author and historian who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-Central constituency since the 2002 general election. Early and personal life A Dubliner ...

, (born 1964), Irish Sinn Féin politician

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aengus Irish-language masculine given names