It is said that an heiress of Eary Cushlin had the misfortune to be a mother without being married, and to hide her shame the child was done away with, without being baptized.
Every night as the fishermen would be out fishing they would hear the crying and wailing of a child on the shore. One night a fisherman shouted what for it was crying, when he received the answer:
“She lhiannoo beg dyn ennym mee”
“I am a little child without a name“.
Then the man shouted back:
“My she inneen oo ta mee enmys oo Joney, as my she guilley oo ta mee enmys oo Juan”
“If thou art a girl I name thee Joney, and if thou art a boy I name thee John”.
After that the crying ceased and the child was no more heard.
(source: Wm. Cashen’s Manx Folklore (1912); photo via the BBC, a Manx fishing boat)
