Aonghas is a masculine given name

Given name

A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

 in Scottish Gaelic. It is composed of Celtic elements meaning "one", and "choice". A variant spelling of the Scottish Gaelic name is Aonghus

Aonghus (given name)

Aonghas is a masculine given name in Scottish Gaelic. It is composed of Celtic elements meaning "one", and "choice". A variant spelling of the Scottish Gaelic name is Aonghus. The Irish form of the Scottish Gaelic names is Aengus...

. The Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 form of the Scottish Gaelic names is Aengus

Aengus (given name)

Aengus is a masculine given name in Irish. It is composed of the Celtic elements meaning "one", and "choice". It is the Irish form of the Scottish Gaelic Aonghas, Aonghus...

. A pet form of the Scottish Gaelic names is Angaidh, which is represented in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 as Angie, pronounced "an-ghee".

The earliest form of the given name Angus, and its cognate

Cognate

In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...

s, occurs in Adomnán's Vita Columbae (English: "Life of Columba

Columba

Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...

") as Oinogusius, Oinogussius. This name likely refers to a Pictish

Picts

The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...

 king whose name is recorded variously as Onnust, Hungus. According to historian Alex Woolf

Alex Woolf

Alex Woolf is a medieval historian based at the University of St Andrews. He specialises in the history of the British Isles and Scandinavia in the Early Middle Ages, especially in relation to the peoples of Wales and Scotland. He is author of volume two in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland,...

, the early Gaelic form of the name, Oengus, was borrowed from the British Pictish

Pictish language

Pictish is a term used for the extinct language or languages thought to have been spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early Middle Ages...

 Onuist, which appears in British as Ungust. Woolf noted that these names are all derived from the Celtic *Oinogustos. Linguist John Kneen

John Kneen

John Joseph Kneen was a Manx linguist specializing in Manx who translated the Isle of Man National Anthem, "Arrane Ashoonagh Dy Vannin," into Manx. The anthem was written in English and composed by William Henry Gill....

 derived this name from two Celtic elements the following way: *Oino-gustos, meaning "one-choice". Woolf also stated that between about AD 350 and AD 660, the Insular Celtic

Insular Celtic languages

Insular Celtic languages are those Celtic languages that originated in the British Isles, in contrast to the Continental Celtic languages of mainland Europe and Anatolia. All surviving Celtic languages are from the Insular Celtic group; the Continental Celtic languages are extinct...

 dialects underwent changes which included the loss of the final syllables and unstressed vowels, which affected *Oinogustos thus: *Oinogustos.

People with the given name

• Aonghas mac Somhairle
  Áonghas mac Somhairle
  Aonghas mac Somhairle was a son of Somerled and Ragnhild, . Aonghas succeeded his father, inheriting lands in Garmoran, Skye, Rum, Eigg, Bute and Arran and became known as Lord of Bute and Arran...
  
  , (fl. 13th century), a Scottish nobleman, son of Somerled.
• Aonghas MacNeacail
  Aonghas MacNeacail
  Aonghas MacNeacail , nickname Aonghas dubh or black Aonghas) is a contemporary writer in the Scottish Gaelic language. Born and brought up in the Isle of Skye, he was registered at birth as Angus Nicolson, but has changed his official name to his native Gaelic...
  
  , (born 1942), a Scottish Gaelic writer.
• Aonghas Mór
  Aonghas Mór
  Aonghas Mór , also known as Aonghas a Íle and Aonghas mac Domhnaill , was the son of Domhnall mac Raghnaill, eponymous progenitor of Clan Donald.Aonghas Mór has been called "the first MacDonald" by one historian, namely...
  
  , (fl. 13th century), a Scottish nobleman, son of Domhnall mac Raghnaill.
• Aonghas Óg of Islay, (fl. 14th century), a Scottish nobleman, son of Aonghas Mór.
• Aonghas Óg
  Aonghas Óg
  Aonghas Óg was a Scottish nobleman who was the last independent Lord of the Isles.-Biography:He was the bastard son of John of Islay, Earl of Ross . Aonghas became a rebel against both his father and against the Scottish crown...
  
  , (died 1490), a Scottish nobleman, son of John of Islay, Earl of Ross.