IRISH FAMILY NAMES
By
A. MACDARRAGH BURKE, MD
Introduction
It is estimated that 80 million people worldwide have an Irish ancestry and of these 40 million, according to the 1980 US census, live in the US. This book is written to help any of the Irish Diaspora who wish to see where their particular family came from.
Each name is considered under four headings
Coats of arms and the right to bear them are usually granted to individuals, but in Ireland the Chief Herald allows sept members to display the arms of the clan chief. The arms in this book will be shown as the escutcheon or shield, the crest and, where appropriate, the motto will be described. Care is taken to see that each family is matched with its correct coat of arms.
Scottsdale, AZ A. MacD. B.
May, 1998
COPYRIGHT © 1998 BY A. MACDARRAGH BURKE, MD.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this book, may be stored in any data retrieval system, translated, photocopied, recorded, reproduced or used in any way without prior written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief passages for review purposes.
A. MacDarragh Burke, MD,
10645 N. Tautum Blvd., Suite 200-126,
Phoenix, AZ 85028.
The Names
Ireland was one of the first countries to adopt hereditary surnames. It is a popular notion that the great Irish king Brian Boru introduced surnames, as we know them today. Although this is held to be historically unlikely, Irish surnames began to appear during Brian’s lifetime in the late tenth century and were fully established in the country in the twelfth century.
In the beginning the surnames were formed by placing prefixes before the father’s name. Mac (son) or Ua (grandson) were the prefixes commonly used. Today Ua is written as O. All the great clan names are of this type, e.g., O’Brien, O’Connor, O’Neill, MacCarthy, and MacGuinness.
There are also O and Mac names derived from occupations; Mac an Bhaird (son of the bard) becomes MacWard or Ward in English and Mac an Ghabhann (son of the smith) is translated as MacGowan. O names of this type are less common. O’Gowan (grandson of the smith) and O’Hickey (grandson of the physician) are two such names.
Another category of names comes from being a follower of a saint or famous person; the prefixes here are giolla (servant or follower) and maol (devotee). In English these are translated into Gil or Kil and Mul, e.g., Mac Giolla Phoil (Gilfoyle) and O Maoil Bhrighde (Mulready).
During the English occupation of the country and especially during the time of the Penal Laws the Mac and O prefixes were widely dropped from the names. However, with the Gaelic resurgence starting in the late 1800s the old prefixes are being resumed. This is illustrated by the O’Sullivan name in Limerick. In 1914 the percentage of O’Sullivan compared to Sullivan was 20%, while in 1944 O’Sullivan amounted to 60% of that name.
It is also worthwhile noting that, in spite of Ireland’s turbulent history, the names are still mainly found in the areas where they belonged in medieval times.
Over the years, the invasions of the country brought new names, so much so that Ireland has a rich mixture of surnames. The new names began with the Viking invasions of the late eight-century. The Vikings came as raiders and stayed to found many of the seaports of the island, e.g., Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick. The fierce Norse raiders became merchants and residents in the country and from them we get among many names; the Arthurs in Limerick, the Coppingers in Cork, the Harolds in Dublin and the Sweetmans in Kilkenny.
The Normans came in the late twelfth century and rapidly began to settle the country. Many kept their own names for example Cusack, Roche, Burke and FitzGerald. Nearly all of the Fitz names are Norman in origin being derived from fils (son) in Norman French.
That the Normans came to feel at home in Ireland is shown by the adaptation of the Latin phrase Hiberniores Hibernicis ipsis, they indeed became ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves’. This intermingling gave rise to another category of names; for example some branches of the Norman de Angulos became Mac Oistealbhhaigh (MacCostelloe or Costelloe), Bermingham changed to Mac Fheorais (Corish) and Archdeacon became Mac Oda (Cody).
An increasing number of English names came to Ireland during the reign of Elizabeth 1; though many of these were Gaelicized others remained in their original form, e.g., Edgeworth and Brereton.
The plantation of Ulster under James1 brought many Scottish names to the country, e.g., MacDonnell and MacMurry. Unlike the Normans, the Ulster settlers did not become more Irish than the Irish themselves.
With the introduction of the English language, many Gaelic names were anglicized, sometimes by substituting an English name of a similar sound, e.g., Collins for O’Coileain (Cullane). Other names were substituted by translation as when Smith is used for MacGowan.
When the fleeing Huguenots came to Ireland, names like La Touche and Lefroy came to the country and are still there. In eighteenth century there was a plantation from the Palatine in County Limerick and gave us names like Ruttle and Switzer.
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