Fintan is an Irish given name. In

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by C ...

Fintan mac Bóchra In Irish mythology Fintan mac Bóchra (modern spelling: Fionntán), known as "the Wise", was a seer who accompanied Noah's granddaughter Cessair to Ireland before the deluge. Bóchra may be his mother, or may be a poetic reference to the sea. He ...

is said to be the sole survivor of the Great Flood on the island of Ireland, subsequently becoming a personification of old age and knowledge. As a shapeshifter, he appears to be identical to the

Salmon of Wisdom The Salmon of Knowledge ( ga, An Bradán Feasa) is a creature in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology, sometimes identified with Fintan mac Bóchra, who was known as "The Wise" and was once transformed into a salmon. Fenian Cycle The Salmon sto ...

and the name may thus have deeper roots in

Celtic mythology Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a ...

. The mythical figure is probably the source for the use of the name in medieval and modern times. As an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

, Fintan also stands for * the Flexible Integrated Transformation and Annotation Engineering platform, a tool for the

language resource In linguistics and language technology, a language resource is a " ompositionof linguistic material used in the construction, improvement and/or evaluation of language processing applications, (...) in language and language-mediated research stu ...

transformation that aims to facilitate

knowledge extraction Knowledge extraction is the creation of knowledge from structured (relational databases, XML) and unstructured (text, documents, images) sources. The resulting knowledge needs to be in a machine-readable and machine-interpretable format and must r ...

and knowledge integration tasks in language technology and its applications. The name alludes to both the aspects of transformation (shapeshifting) and knowledge (wisdom) associated with Fintan mac Bóchra. Notable persons and characters with this name include: * mythological **

, figure in

* Ireland and Scotland, medieval **

Fintan of Clonenagh Saint Fintan of Clonenagh (c. 526 – 603) was an Irish hermit and monk. He was an Abbot and disciple of Columba of Terryglass. Life Fintan was born in about 526, the son of Christians Gabhren and Findlath. The monastery at Clonenagh was foun ...

, 6th- and 7th-century Irish saint **

Saint Fintan Munnu In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

, 7th-century Irish saint, a disciple of Saint Columba ** Findanus, 9th- and 10th-century chief on the Isle of Skye, Scotland **

Fintan of Rheinau Fintan of Rheinau ''(Findan, Findanus)'' (803–804 in Leinster, Ireland, 15 November 878 in Rheinau, Switzerland) was an Irish Catholic hermit who settled in Rheinau. In the Catholic Church he is venerated as a saint. Life Fintan was born in t ...

(Findan, Findanus), 9th c. catholic saint and hermit, born in Leinster, active in Rheinau, Switzerland *Ireland, modern ** James Fintan Lalor, (1807–1849) an Irish revolutionary **

Fintan O'Toole Fintan O'Toole (born 16 February 1958) is a polemicist, literary editor, journalist and drama critic for ''The Irish Times'', for which he has written since 1988. O'Toole was drama critic for the ''New York Daily News'' from 1997 to 2001 and is ...

(born 1958), Irish columnist, writer, literary editor and drama critic **

Fintan Kilbride Fintan Kilbride (18 March 1927 – 21 December 2006) was a Catholic priest and teacher committed to the poor. Biography Early life and missionary work Fintan was born in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. He grew up in Clonmel, County Tipperary. H ...

(1927–2006), Irish priest **

Fintan McAllister Fintan Patrick McAllister (born 9 February 1987 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland) an Irish cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. He has represented the Ireland national side, Ireland national under-19 cricket team in 2006, and ...

, Irish cricketer ** Fintan Connolly, Irish film-maker **

Fintan Coogan Snr Fintan Coogan (13 April 1910 – 4 November 1984) was an Irish Fine Gael politician. A blacksmith before entering politics, he was a Teachta Dála (TD) for over twenty years, and served three times as Mayor of Galway. Coogan unsuccessfully conte ...

(1910–1985), Irish Fine Gael politician **

Fintan Coogan Jnr Fintan A. Coogan (born 2 June 1944) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician from Galway. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for five years, a senator for five years, and was twice Mayor of Galway. Early and personal life The son of Fintan Coogan Snr, ...

, Irish Fine Gael politician **

Fintan Cullen Fintan Cullen (born 3 January 1954) in Dublin, is an Irish academic, educator and writer. Cullen is a professor at the University of Nottingham. National Portrait Gallery Exhibit He and Roy Foster co-created the exhibit ''Conquering England: I ...

, Irish writer and academic **

Fintan Walsh Fintan Walsh was Gaelic football player from County Laois in Ireland. He played for many years on the Laois senior football team in the forwards and was widely regarded as one of the outstanding players in Ireland of the 1950s and early 1960s. ...

, Irish Gaelic football player **

Fintan Warfield Fintan Warfield (born 1992) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has served as a Senator for the Cultural and Educational Panel since April 2016. As of 2017, he was the youngest senator in Ireland. Early life and education Warfield attended ...

, Irish Sinn Féin politician *Great Britain, modern **

Fintan Ryan Fintan Ryan is an Irish comedy screenwriter, best known for writing the BBC Two sitcom ''Never Better'' and the E4 science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically ...

, British scriptwriter *Switzerland **

(Findan, Findanus), 9th c. catholic saint and hermit, born in Leinster, active in Rheinau, Switzerland **Fintan Birchler, 18th c. priest in Rheinau, Switzerland, author of a vita of Fintan of RheinauFintan Birchler:
Der Heilige Fintan: ein Muster der Christlichen Vollkommenheit
', 1793 ** Fintan Mundwiler, 19th-century Swiss Benedictine

Fictional characters

* Fintan Pyren, an unstable villainous murderer in the book series ''Keeper of The Lost Cities'' by

Shannon Messenger Shannon Messenger is an American author. She writes the middle-grade series ''Keeper of the Lost Cities'', which was a ''New York Times'' bestseller; ''Unlocked'', book 8.5 in the series, reached number 8 on USA Today's list in 2020. She also w ...

References

{{given name Acronyms