Old Irish Gaelic Sernames

Old Irish-Gaelic Surnames Translation from Gaelic to English

From 1086 to 1114 the most powerful king in Ireland was Muirchertach O'Brien. He had dealings with the Anglo-Normans and the Norwegian king, and dominated most of the country. However, Domnaill Mac Lochlainn, king of the Ui Neill, was able to hold him in check until the dynamic Turlough O'Connor, king of Connacht (1106-1156) came onto the scene. Between 1115 and 1131, Turlough destroyed the power of Munster and from 1140 threw his energies into making himself king of Ireland. With his death in 1156, supreme power passed to the king of the Ui Neill, Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn.

Mac Lochlainn allied himself with Dermot MacMurrough (Diarmait Murchadha), king of Leinster, against his main opponent, Rory O'Connor (Ruaidhri O Conchobhair), king of Connacht. Mac Lochlainn held the upper hand in Ireland until his death in 1166. O'Connor along with his allies, particularly Tiernan O'Rourke, king of Breifne, as well as the Dubliners, then drove MacMurrough from Ireland. MacMurrough appealed for help to King Henry II of England and changed the course of history by doing so. This opened the door for the Norman invasion of Ireland beginning in 1169.

Further Reference:
Irish History in Maps - Home Page.
Before there were Counties - an Irish Territorial History.
Ancient Irish Genealogy and Geography - Province History.
The Tuath and Barony of Ireland - the baronies of Ireland and the clans associated with them.
Old Irish Gaelic Surnames - a supplement to the maps above.
Norman Surnames of Ireland - including Cambro-Norman, Welsh and Flemish.
Castles of Ireland - A compilation of What, Where, Who and When
Cambro-Norman Invasion of Ireland - A summary of events and people.

Historical Reference:
At this site
Ireland History in Maps - The IHM Home Page.
Old Irish Kingdoms and Clans - a supplement to IHM.
Old Irish Gaelic Surnames - a supplement to IHM.
Norman Surnames of Ireland - including Cambro-Norman, Welsh and Flemish.
Before there were Counties - an Irish Territorial History.
Cambro-Norman Invasion of Ireland - A summary of events and people.
Kings of Leinster and Osraige

Dynastic Surnames on this map:

Search for Castles - at Go Irleand (over 270 castles)
Articles about Ireland - Castles and Homes
Historic Irish Castles web site
Castles on the Web web site
Strangford Lough - Abbeys, Castles, Country Houses
Irish Castles at Irelandseye
Irish Castles at About.com
Choose a Search Engine and find more Irish Castles on the web.

Greater
Ua Mael Doraig - O'Muldory
Mac Lochlainn - MacLaughlin
Ua Neill - O'Neil
Mac Duinnsleibe - Donlevy or Dunleavy
Ua Cerbaill - O'Carroll (Monaghan)
Ua Ruairc - O'Rourke
Ua Maelsechnaill - MacLaughlin (Meath)
Ua Conchobhair - O'Connor
Ua Briain - O'Brien
Mac Murchada - MacMurrough
Mac Carthaig – McCarthy

Following the initial invasion of the Cambro-Normans in the late twelfth century the installation of foreign-born lords and earls in Ireland, by King Henry II and his son John, continued throughout the thirteenth century. This in turn gave rise to some of the greater dynasties of Anglo-Norman families such as the Geraldines of Leinster (Kildare) and Munster (Desmond), the Burkes of Connacht and north Munster, and the Butlers of Tipperary and Kilkenny.

By the beginning of the fourteenth century the territorial extent of the Irish lordship was at its height. Every native ruler, even Maguire (Mag Uidhir) and O'Donnell in the extreme northwest, was legally the tenant of some earl or baron, or of the English king directly. However power struggles between the Irish lords and the Anglo barons, as well as rivalries among the various Irish chieftains, continued to change the landscape of political power within Ireland over the next century.

Between 1315 and 1318, the Scottish war in Great Britain spilled into Ireland. Edward Bruce of Scotland in alliance with Domhnall O Neill, king of Tir Eoghain, carried on a three year campaign against the Anglo-Norman barons before Edward was defeated at the Battle of Faughart in Louth. At the Battle of Athenry in 1316, five Irish kings were killed along with many chieftains from Connacht, Thomond and Westmeath. In conjunction with the Famine of 1315-1317, the Bruce campaign devastated much of the land in the colony. In Thomond the death of Richard de Clare at the Battle of Dysert O'Dea leaves a gap which allow the O'Brien chiefs de facto independence for the rest of the Middle Ages.

For the rest of the fourteenth century the Anglo-Irish parliament in Ireland complain of decaying defenses and incompetent administration in the lands of the English lords, many of whom were living in England. The Statutes of Kilkenny were passed in 1366 as a fultile attempt to stem the increasing cooperation between the 'Gaelicized' English and the Irish chiefs. A Gaelic resurgance was in the wind, as the most significant gain for the native Irish chiefs was not necessarily territory, but liberty. In Leinster the chieftains had freedom of action as the royal government inadequately filled the gap left by the former lords of Leinster, a role later filled by the increasing power of the earls of Ormond and Kildare. In Connacht and Desmond (southern Munster) the O'Connor and McCarthy chiefs were partially restrained by the presence of the Burkes and the earls of Desmond. In Thomond and Ulster this liberty was almost absolute,

Seven Septs of Laois
After the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, the Leix (Laois) County was divided among seven Septs or Clans: O'Moore, O'Kelly, O'Deevy, O'Doran, O'Lalor, O'Dowling and McEvoy.
This confederation began after the 3rd century CE, when the family group that would become the O'Mores came from Ulster to Leinster under the leadership of Laoighseach Cean More, son of Connall Cearnach of the Red Branch, and helped to defend Leinster under the kingship of Cuchorb, and expelled the Munster forces from the region. They continued to hold principality over what became Leix (Laois), so named after Laoighseach, and this confederation continued through the Elizabethian wars of the 1500's, when the military and political power of the families were broken and the clans dispossessed and relocated. Of these seven clans, the O'Mores were the leading family, holding the position and title of Kings, and then Princes of Leix, as well as the Marshell's and treasurers of Leinster since the 3rd century.
Source: http://members.aol.com/Septsleix/septs.html

Old Irish-Gaelic Surnames Mac Giolla Rua - (Mac) Elroy - Co Fermanagh
A Supplement to Ireland History in Maps
Translation from Gaelic to English

Mac Giolla Bháin - MacIlwaine or Kilbane - Co Sligo - the Uí Fiachrach
Mac Giolla Riabhaigh - MacIlwraith - Unknown
Mac an Airchinnigh - MacInerney - Co Clare - son of the erenagh

Mac Giolla Mo-Cholmog - Fitz Dermot - Uí Dunchada of Dublin/Kildare

Mac Mathghamha - MacMahon - Co Monaghan - rulers of Oriel (Airgialla)
Mac Mathghamha - MacMahon - Co Clare - the Dal gCais, descent from Mahon O'Brien
Ó Mathghamhna - (O) Mahony - Co Cork - Cenel Aodha, of the Eoghanacht

Maoilchiaráin - Mulkerrin, Mulkieran - Roscommon, Galway, Ulster - devotee of (St.) Ciaran
Mac Connmhaigh or Connmeadha - (Mac) Conway - Thomond
Mac Conmidhe - (Mac) Conway or MacNamee - Co Derry and Tyrone
Mac Congail - Conwell or MacConwell - Co Down Ó Maolalaidhs - O'Mullally or Lally - Co Roscommon - the Uí Maine

Mac Aodhagáin - (Mac) Egan - Uí Maine territory, then Ormond
Mac Giolla Domhaigh - MacEldowney - Co Derry
Mac Giolla Rua - (Mac) Elroy - Co Fermanagh
Mac Conchradha - MacEnchroe or Crowe - Co Clare
Mac Inneirghe - MacEnery - Co Limerick - Uí Cairbre, same stock as O'Donovan
Ó hAonghuis - Ennis - Co Offaly and Meath - variant of O'Hennessy
Mac Fhiodhbhuidhe - MacEvoy - Co Westmeath, Laois - one of the "7 Septs of Leix

· * 645 Cuan, son of Enda, King of Munster, was slain.

· ?? Seachnusach, son of Finghin [Feimhin]

· * 660 Maenach, son of Finghin, King of Munster, died.

or 1442, Mac Carthy Reagh, Lord of Ivahagh in Munster, died. O'Driscoll More (Mac Con), Lord of Corca-Laoighe, died.

· · 1064 Toirrdelbach, of Munster O'Brien, King of Munster & Ireland

· *1086 Tairdelbach ua Briain, king of Ireland, died in Cenn Coradh

· 1086 Diarmait macToirrdelbaig O'Brien, King of Munster

· 1086 Muirchertach II MacToirdelbaig O'Brien, King of Ireland & Munster

· *1124 Tadgh MacCarthy, son of Muircadhach, King of Munster?, descent from Cellachán I Caisil, died

FFermanagh
The Erdini, according to some authorities, were the inhabitants of this district in the time of Ptolemy; but Whitaker considers it to have been part of the Nagnatae. By the ancient Irish it was called Feor Magh Eanagh, or "the Country of the Lakes," and Magh Uire, or "the Country of the Waters:" it was also called Ernai or Ernagh, and the inhabitants who lived around Logh Erne, Ernains and Erenochs. a name supposed to be derived from the Erdini. It was divided into two great portions, one called Targoll, the ancient seat of the Facmonii, and of the Macmanii, or the Mac Manuses; the other named Rosgoll, occupied by the Guarii or Guirii, from whom the Mac Guires, or Maguires, derive their origin. This family was so powerful that the greater part of the county was for several centuries known by the name of Mac Guires country.

Monaghan
According to Whitaker, this county was inhabited in the time of Ptolemy by the Scoti, who then possessed all the inland parts of Ireland; it afterwards formed part of the district of Uriel, Oriel, or Orgial, which also comprehended Louth and part of Armagh; but it was more generally known by the name of Mac Mahon's country, from the powerful sept of the same name. Its present name is derived from its chief town, Monaghan or Miunechan, "the Town of the Monks," although no trace of an ecclesiastical establishment can now be discovered there. Immediately after the English invasion, when De Courcy entered Ulster, he was joined by a chieftain named Mac Mahon, who ingratiated himself so much with him that he was entrusted with the command of two forts, which, on the first change of fortune, Mac Mahon utterly destroyed; and when questioned on his breach of faith, answered, "that he had not engaged to keep stone walls; and that he scorned to confine himself within such cold and dreary enclosures, while his native woods were open for his reception and security."