Re: St. Clair and Sinclair spellings

[Jean Haddow <jean@hadpad.demon.co.uk>]

In message <v01530501b31976b12bce@[207.139.201.83]>, Antonia Sinclair
<asflwr@cujo2.icom.ca> writes
>
>To Chris, Ray, and anyone else interested in a possible evolution of our name:
>
>While talking with Rebecca last week, she said her grandmother called her 
>husband "Sinclair", the same way which we pronounce it "Sinkler" (accent on 
>Sin!).  It suddenly hit me that it might be possible that the St. Clairs who 
>stayed in the Lothian/Rosslyn area of Scotland might prefer to keep the "French" 
>version.

This is Jean Haddow replying to your question - now the whole idea of
anyone keeping a diffrent stress on the pronunciation of a name over so
many hundreds of years is very unlikely and has not ever to my
knowledge, hapenned. 

The pronunciation is Sinclair or,as you would undretsand, Sinkler  (It
certainly isn't the spelling.)  
>
>However, the ones who went north to Caithness may have started using a version
>which sounded more like a local name (note the many village names like Lybster,
>Brabster, Nybster, and Sibster.)

The local names like Lybster etc. derive from the Norse and the "STER"
ending to the name is Norse and means a dwelling place.


Should anyone else care to ask about name origins from some one actually
living in Scotland and with a fair knowledge  of actual Sinclair
history, I'd be happy to reply although I should stress that I don't
claim to be an historian like the excellent Jean Grisby/ies of this
world with whom, quite sadly, I have no contact whatsoever. 
>
>For those of you who know what part of Scotland your ancestors come from, does
>this work out at all?  Jean Haddow, since you are in Scotland, do you notice any 
>difference in the pronunciation between the northerners and the southerners?
>
>Just an idea I thought I'd pass on.
>
>Toni
>
>
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-- 
Jean Haddow
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