Talk:Shane O'Neill
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I would give him his Irish name, Seán (Seaán) Ó Néill, because that was his culture, and that of the vast majority of Ireland's people at the time. Names signify cultural worlds, and when we write history we are supposed to represent those times, times when Ó Néill, for instance, most certainly was not part of the English one. His name was Seán An Díomais (Shane the proud) in the Irish tradition. He was also known by the name Seán (Seaán) Donnghaileach due to his strong connections with the Uí Dhonnghaile sept, with whom he was fostered. The practice within Irish historical circles (see any work by Professor Katherine Simms of TCD, the leading authority on late medieval Ireland) is to use the Irish name rather than the anglicised name unless they belonged to the English cultural world, as was the case with Florence McCarthy and others. This applies to the gaelicised Norman lordships in the Midlands, Munster and Connacht, as it does on the other side to the anglicised Norman gentry near Dublin.
