The names of women have been also very much metamorphosed, and many of the most curious of them entirely rejected. I have now before me a list of the names of women, drawn up from the authentic Irish annals, and from the History of Remarkable Women--a curious tract in the Book of Lecan, fol. 193; but as the limits allotted to me in this Journal will not allow me to furnish such a list, I must rest satisfied with giving such names as are still retained, with a selection from the most curious of those which have been rejected, adding their meanings as far as they are certain. The following are the ancient Irish names of women still retained, as the writer has determined by examining the provinces of Ulster, Connaught, Leinster, and the greater part of Munster:-- 1. _Ainé_, now Hannah. 2. _Brighid_, now anglicised Bridget, from its resemblance to the name of the celebrated Swedish virgin of that name. Brighid is a woman’s name of pagan origin in Ireland; it has been explained _fiery dart_ by the Irish glossographers, especially by Cormac, Archbishop of Cashel, who distinctly states in his glossary that it was the name of the Muse who was believed to preside over poetry in pagan times in Ireland. _Brighid_ is now very common in Ireland as the name of a woman, in consequence of its being that of the most celebrated of the female saints of Ireland--the patroness of Kildare--who is well known all over Europe as the great patroness of Ireland. 3. _Finola_, though a beautiful name, has nearly become obsolete since the beginning of the eighteenth century, but some few still retain it in the abbreviated form of Nuala. 4. _Graine_, now Grace. 5. _Lassarina_, also, though in use not long since, has latterly became obsolete. 6. _Meadhbh_, pronounced Meave. This is still preserved and anglicised Maud, Mab, and Mabby; and the writer is acquainted with several old women of the Milesian race who still retain it. This was the name of a celebrated queen of Connaught, who flourished in the first century, and who is now known in the legends of the mountainous districts of Ireland as the queen of the fairies. From this country her spirit found way into Scotland, and thence into the north of England, where Shakspeare met with her, but in rather too diminutive a form for the shade of the Irish heroine. 7. _Mor_, pronounced More. The writer believes that there are a few women of this name still living in Ireland; but he is confident that there are but very few, though it was the name of many honourable ladies in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and for a century later. In our own times, however, it has been almost invariably anglicised Mary, with which it is neither synonymous nor cognate. 8. _Sadhbh_, pronounced Soyv, is the name of several women of the old Irish races, and who are known to the writer. It is now almost invariably anglicised Sally, to which it bears no analogy.