Gaelicisation, or Gaelicization, is the act or process of making something Gaelic, or gaining characteristics of the Gaels. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group, traditionally viewed as having spread from Ireland to Scotland and the Isle of Man. "Gaelic", as a linguistic term, refers to the Gaelic languages but can also refer to the transmission of any other Gaelic cultural feature such as social norms and customs, music and sport. It is often referred to as a part of Celtic identity as Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man are all considered Celtic Nations, and the Gaelic languages are considered a sub-group of the Celtic languages, of which many such as Welsh for example have also undergone Celticisation.
Early history
Examples of Gaelicisation in history include the Picts, Hiberno-Normans, Scoto-Normans and Norse-Gaels.
Modern era
Today, Gaelicisation, or more often re-Gaelicisation, of placenames, surnames and given names is often a deliberate effort to help promote the languages and to counteract centuries of Anglicisation.
Isle of Man
The Manx language, which is very similar to Irish, has undergone a major revival very recently, despite the language being so rarely used that it was even mislabelled as extinct by a United Nations report as recently as 2009. The decline of the language on the island was primarily as a result of stigmatisation and high levels of emigration to England. There are now primary schools teaching in the medium of Manx Gaelic, after efforts mainly modelled on the Irish system. The efforts have been widely praised, with further developments such as using technology to teach the language being put into place.
Ireland
Irish
Estimates of numbers of native speakers of the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland in 2000 ranged from 20,000 to 80,000. According to the 2006 census for the Republic, 85,000 people used Irish daily outside of school and 1.2 million used Irish at least occasionally. In the 2011 Census, these numbers increased to 94,000 and 1.3 million, respectively. Active Irish speakers probably comprise 5 to 10 per cent of Ireland's population. In recent decades there has been a significant increase in the number of urban Irish speakers, particularly in Dublin. The dispersed but large, educated and middle-class urban Gaeilgeoir community enjoys a lively cultural life and is buoyed by the growth of Irish medium education and Irish-language media. In some official Gaeltachtaí areas, Irish remains a vernacular language alongside English. In Northern Ireland the Gaelicisation process is significantly slower and less-supported than elsewhere on the island and the status of the Irish language in Northern Ireland is the subject of heated political debates.
Ulster Scots is spoken in mid and east Antrim, north Down, north-east County Londonderry, and in the fishing villages of the Mourne coast. It is also spoken in the Laggan district and parts of the Finn Valley in east Donegal and in the south of Inishowen in north Donegal. The 1999 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey found that 2% of Northern Ireland residents claimed to speak Ulster Scots, which would mean a total speech community of approximately 30,000 in the territory. Other estimates range from 35,000 in Northern Ireland, to an "optimistic" total of 100,000 including the Republic of Ireland. In the 2011 census of Northern Ireland, 16,373 people stated that they can speak, read, write and understand Ulster Scots and 140,204 people reported having some ability in Ulster Scots.
