Is Ailbhe MacShamhráin  male or female?

Thank you for your question. According to the programme of the Fifth
Maynooth Summer School in Comparative Celtic Linguistics and Medieval
Irish Studies (2001), Dr MacShamhráin is male:

“DR. AILBHE MAC SHAMHRÁIN teaches courses on early Irish archaeology
and related matters in Maynooth, works for the Royal Irish Academy’s
Dictionary of National Biography and is a member of the committee of
the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. He is the author of
Church and Polity in Pre-Norman Ireland: the Case of Glendalough and
of various articles on early Irish political history.”

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/krmccone/Summersc.htm

I searched the British Library catalogue
(http://blpc.bl.uk/adp0358aPaTextWelcome.jsp) & Ailbhe MacShamhráin’s
full name is given as

Ailbhe Séamus Mac Shamhráin 

As Séamas is a male name (confirmed at various Irish names websites),
this seems to confirm the historian’s gender as male; Ailbhe can be
either a male or female name.

I hope this evidence gives a satisfactory answer.
Best wishes
blackbird-ga


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