In Gaelic Ireland each person belonged to an agnatic kin-group known as a "fine" (plural: "finte"). This was a large group of related people supposedly descended from one progenitor through male forebears. It was headed by a man whose office was known in Old Irish as a "cenn fine" or "toísech" (plural: "toísig"). Nicholls suggests that they would be better thought of as akin to the modern-day corporation. Within each "fine", the family descended from a common great grandparent was called a "derbfine" (modern form "dearbhfhine"), lit. "close clan". The "cland" (modern form "clann") referred to the children of the nuclear family.