The name Mael resembles old
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
names from Brittany, Wales, and Ireland.
"Mael" is a
Breton boys' name meaning "chief" or "prince". The name for girls is "Maela".
The Breton name is popular in
French as "Maël", with French girl-forms "Maëlys" and "Maëlle", largely after the
Breton Saint
Maël.
Behind the Name
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The Welsh boys name Mael was borne by the legendary son of Roycol.
The old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...
word "máel" (now spelt "maol"), meaning "bald" and hence "monk", was sometimes put before Gaelic names to form new names such as "Maolcholuim" (spelt "Malcolm" by the English), which means "monk/follower of Columba
Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...
".
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mael (Given Name)
Breton masculine given names
Welsh masculine given names
Welsh given names
Irish-language masculine given names
Masculine given names