Irish America
Irish America
The O'Briens are one of the great Gaelic families of Ireland, and were the rulers of the ancient kingdom of Thomond, which takes in much of the modern county Clare and also the adjacent parts of counties Limerick and Tipperary. The family name is derived from Brian Boru (925-1014 A.D.) who was King of Thomond and rose to become High-King of Ireland. Brian Boru is best … [Read more...] about Roots: The O’Brien Clan
This month we are featuring the families of our new Taoiseach [Prime Minister] Albert Reynolds, and our previous Taoiseach Charles Haughey. Both names are Gaelic in origin and both exemplify the interesting variation in name-forms which can occur in the change of Gaelic names to an anglicized form. Although Reynolds is also an English name of Norman origin, almost all of the … [Read more...] about Roots: Reynolds and Haughey
My recent article on "That's Not an Irish Name" has prompted a lot of comment from readers with interesting names, and theories about their derivation. I must also acknowledge one mistake. Bill Delaney of Philadelphia corrected me on the name Delaney, which had been given as an example of the many Norman names with the prefix "De." Delaney, however, is of course, derived from … [Read more...] about Roots: Unusual Irish Names
Names such as Kelly, Murphy, O'Brien and Ryan are distinctively Irish and are widely known to be so. However, there are many names which are Irish but this fact is far from obvious. Names such as Holland, King, Waters, Rabbitte, Woods, Smith, Kidney, Bird, Salmon, Moore, Traynor, Moss, Fox and Dean and many others can be of Irish origin due to some strange evolutions of … [Read more...] about Roots: That’s Not an Irish Name!
A significant number of Irish names have the prefix "Gil" or "Guil," including Gilchrist, Gildea, Gilhooly, Gilmartin, Gillespie, Gilfoyle, Gilleece, (Mac) Gillicuddy, Gilpatrick, Gilroy (now McElroy), Gilsenan and Gilvarry. These names were all originally prefixed by Mc and are all based on the Gaelic word Giolla which means a youth, attendant, servant or follower. The usual … [Read more...] about Roots: Gilhooly, Gilmartin, Gillespie, and Gilfoyle
