Small SampleofF Irish Surnames

ABBOTT

This well-known English name is in Ireland since the fourteenth century and is now quite numerous in Dublin.  It is usually of the nickname type.  In Irish the form Aboíd is used.  Woulfe states that Abbott (a common Anglo-Irish surname) is a derivative of Abraham;  but Reaney gives it its obvious meaning, adding that such surnames often originated as nicknames.

AIKEN (also Aitken, Eakin, Eakins)

In Ireland common only in Ulster, Aiken is of Scottish origin.  It is the Scottish form of the English name Atkin, which comes from Adkin, a pet form of Adam.  The name was very common in the parish of Ballantrae in Ayrshire and many of our Aikens may stem from there.  There are many variant spellings.  It was recorded as being used interchangeably with Eakins in Belfast, Ekin in counties Derry and Donegal, Ekin in Co. Donegal and Egan in Co. Down.  Some of the Irish sept of O'Hagan (see O'Hagan) may have further anglicised their name to Aiken.

In Co. Antrim, where it is most popular, it was found to be most concentrated in the area northwest of Ballymena in the mid-nineteenth century.

Dr. Joseph Aiken published a contemporary account of the Siege of Derry in verse entitled Londerias, or, a narrative of the siege of Londonderry (1699).

BAIRD

This Co. Antrim and Co. Down name is Scottish in origin and can derive from the Gaelic word bard, a 'bard' or 'poet'.  The Scottish name MacWard, Gaelic Mac a'Bhaird, meaning 'son of the bard', was also largely anglicised to Baird.  However, the earliest record of it as a surname is the de Bard family of Lanarkshire in the thirteenth century.  De Bard also appears in the following century in Aberdeenshire and the Lothians.  In this case the name is territorial in origin, many of the Scottish Bairds descending from Normans who came to Scotland in the train of William the Lion in the twelfth century.  These in turn had descended from le seigneur de Barde who came to England with William the Conqueror.

Baird is an old and popular name in Ayrshire, whence stemmed so many of the Plantation settlers.  In the mid-nineteenth century it was found to be particularly popular on the Upper Ards around Portaferry, Co. Down.

BAXTER

This Co. Antrim name is of Scottish origin.  The MacBaxters, Gaelic Mac an Bhacstair, 'son of the baker', were a branch of the Clan Macmillan.  The name derives from the Old English word bœcestre, meaning a 'female baker', and was common in Angus.  Forfar in Angus was a royal residence and it may be that the first Baxters were bakers to the king.  The MacBaxters were also noted on the Highland Border and in the Isles.  Baxter came first to Ulster during the Plantation.

BLAIR

In Ireland very few of Blairs live outside Ulster where over half are from Co. Antrim and most of the remainder from counties Derry and Tyrone.  It is a Scottish name, common here since the Plantation.  It is territorial in origin taken from any one of a number of places in Scotland so named.  The placename itself derives from the Gaelic blar, meaning 'plain', 'field' or 'battlefield'.

BRANNELLY, Branley

This name, Ó Branghaile in Irish (branghal, raven valour), is peculiar to east Galway.  It is not numerous.  The cognate Ó Branghail appears to be obsolete now;  it occurs as O'Branyll in a late sixteenth century Fiant relating to Co. Cavan.

COLL

This Donegal name is from MacColl, Gaelic Mac Colla, the name of a galloglass family introduced there from Argyllshire in the sicteenth century.  Colla was a Gaelic personal name and Colla Uais, a semi-legendary Irish king of the fourth century, is claimed as the great ancestor of the MacDonalds.  The MacCalls or MacColls, long settled in Argyllshire, were of the race of Clan Donald but in practice followed the Stewarts of Appin.  Although of no connection with the Ulster MacCalls or MacCauls, there has been some intermingling of the two names (see MacCall).

CURRAGH

This name, which for the past two centuries has been found in south Down and the north Louth area, appears near there as early as 1428 when Thomas Curragh a farmer, of Kilpatrick, was mentioned in a case recorded in Archbishop Swayne's register.  In the next century we find it mentioned occasionally in or near Dublin, e.g. in 1561, Richard Curragh, farmer, of Raheny, and, in 1589, another Richard Curragh a member of the Merchant Tailor's Guild who was made a freeman of Dublin city.

I have not ascertained the correct derivation of the name;  it may be a toponymic from one of the many places in Ireland called Curragh; the rare Irish word curach, meaning champion or hero, has also been suggested as a possible alternative; or it may be an Irish form of MacCurrach, which is a sept of the Scottish clan MacPherson.

CURRAN

This name is common in all the provinces of Ireland but especially Ulster, particularly Co. Donegal.  Little is known about the origins of the name.

Generally, it is an anglicisation of Ó Corráin, the name of what are thought to be three unrelated septs in Waterford and Tipperary, Galway and Leitrim, and Kerry.  In Donegal, where the name is most common, it is from Ó Corraidhín, giving Curran, Curren and Curreen.

In Scotland the name has been recorded in Ayrshire and Wigtownshire, where it is of Irish origin.

DANE

The English surname Dane (which is not derived from Denmark but from an old English word meaning a valley) has inevitably been confused with Dean (q.v.).  In Ireland, however, Dane is primarily the name of a Connacht sept Ó Déaghain.  In the "census" of 1659 it appears as one of the principal Irish names in Co. Roscommon; and two centuries later we find it largely concentrated around Belmullet in the adjoining county of Mayo.

DEVINE

This name is Gaelic is Ó Daimhín and the ancestor who gave the sept its name was Daimhín, died 966, the son of Cairbre Dam Argait, King of Oriel.  A brother of Daimhín called Cormac was ancestor of the Maguires and the O'Devines, Lords of Tirkennedy.  It was a leading Co. Fermanagh sept up until and including the fifteenth century.  Later, the power of the leading family was broken by pressure from the O'Neills in the north and the Maguires in the south.  However, the name is still known in Fermanagh, although more common in counties Tyrone and Derry.  The name stems from the word damh, meaning 'ox', and not from dámh, meaning 'poet'.  The sept gave Clogher in Co. Tyrone its original name, Clochar Mac nDaimhín.

DONALDSON

This is an anglicisation of MacDonald that  has been in use in Scotland, particularly Edinburgh, from the fourteenth century.  In Ulster it is most common in Co. Antrim and to a lesser extent Co. Armagh.

Fairly early on the clan name of the great MacDonalds, Lords of the Isles, began to be spelt in a variety of ways, including Donaldson, Donillson and Donnelson, forms recorded in old charters of the MacDonnells of Antrim (from whom the present Earl of Antrim descends).  In the 'census' of 1659 Donnellson appears as a 'principal name' in Co. Antrim (see Connell, MacDonald and MacDonnell).

Around 1900 Donaldson was being used interchangeably with Donnelly (see Donnelly) in parts of the Coleraine district of Co. Derry.

ELLIS

This English name is numerous only in Dublin and Uister, where it is particularly common in Co.Antrim.  The Hebrew name Elijah was made in Greek Elias and this personal name was very popular in medieval England.  It became in Old English Elys or Elis and this came to be the basis of the surname Ellis.  It is fairly common in both Scotland and Ireland from about the thirteenth century onwards but most in Ulster arrived in the post-Plantation period.

EWING

Ewing is quite a numerous surname in Ireland; in 1866 there were 27 births registered for it. Including a few for the synonyms Ewings and Ewin, while in 1890 the number was 24, in both cases almost entirely in Ulster.  In that province it has since the seventeenth century been especially associated with the counties of Donegal, Derry, Tyrone and Antrim.  Many Ewing wills are recorded for the dioceses comprising these northern areas.  The "census" of 1659 is one of the earliest Irish documents to include the name - in it Alexander Ewing appears as one of the leading inhabitants of Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.  A few years later it appears frequently in the Hearth Money Rolls for that county.  It is probable that Dublin Ewings, such as the notable printing and publishing family of the mid-eighteenth century, came to the capital from the north.

The origin of the name is interesting.  According to Reaney it goes back to the Greek eugenes (well-born), cognate with the Gaelic Irish eoghan.  Mac GiollaDomhnaigh, too, states that Ewing, also found as MacEwing, is a form of the well known Scottish name MacEwen, gaelice Mac Eoghain, i.e. our Irish MacKeown.

FERRY

Ferry, also spelt Fairy, is found almost exclusively in Co. Donegal, and is an anglicisation of the old Cenél Conaill sept name Ó Fearadhaigh.  This probably derives from the personal name Fearadhach, meaning 'manly'.  The name is also well known in Co. Sligo and other parts of Connacht.  The O'Ferrys were followers of the MacSweeneys.  The name has occasionally been confused with Ferris (see Ferris).

FINUCANE

Woulfe makes this name Ó Fionnmhacháin and says it is a rare Munster name of which he can find no early form.  It is found chiefly in Co. Clare, where the form Kinucane is recorded as having been used synonymously with Finucane.  This suggests that it is a Mac not an O name viz. Mac Fionnmhacháin or Mac Fhionnmhacháin.

GOURLEY

Outside of Dublin this name is found only in Ulster where it is most common in Co. Antrim.  It was originally MacGourley, from Mag Thoirdealbhaigh, 'son of Turlough', a Tyrone-Antrim variant of the Armagh-Down name MacTurley.  The name, as Gourlay or Gourlie, is also well known in Scotland and there it is territorial in origin, probably from a place of the name in England.  Therefore some at least of the Ulster Gourleys may have Scottish roots.

GREER

Most people of this name in Ireland spell it as above, though occasionally the variant Grier is used; these and also Grierson are basically the same, being anglicized forms of the Scottish MacGregor, which is found unchanged in Co. Derry.  Greer is very numerous in Co. Antrim now and it occurs many times in the Hearth Money Rolls for that county (1669) and to some extent also in the rolls of other Ulster counties.  The principal families of the name came to Ireland in the seventeenth century, the earliest in the Plantation of Ulster and others a generation later.  Derry-born Samuel McCurdy Greer (1810-1880), who ended as county court judge of Cavan and Leitrim, was co-founder of the Tenant League in 1850 with Charles Gavan Duffy.

HAMILL

This popular Ulster name is most common in counties Antrim and Armagh and can be of Irish, Scottish or English origin, In England the name, originally Hamel, derives from the Old English word hamel, meaning ''scarred' or 'mutilated'.

In Scotland the name is of Norman territorial origin.  The first of the name on record there was William de Hameville in thirteenth-century Annandale in Dumfriesshire.  The name is well recorded in Lothian but was most common in Ayrshire and indeed, Hugh Hammill of Roughwood in Ayrshire was one of those who accompanied Montgomery of the Ards to Ulster.

However, already in Ulster at that time, the O'Hamills, Gaelic Ó hAghmaill, were one of the leading septs of the Cenél Binnigh, a brianch of the Cenél Eoghain.  As such the O'Hamills claim descent from Binneach, son of Eoghan, son of the fifth-century Niall of the Nine Hostages, founder of the Uí Néill dynasty.  The O'Hamills ruled a territory in south Tyrone and Armagh and from the twelfth century were poets and ollovs (learned men) to the powerful O'Hanlons.  By the seventeenth century the name was most numerous in Armagh and Monaghan and by 1900 was also common in Louth.  The prefix O' is now used only in Co. Derry, and there rarely.  The name has also been made Hamilton in that Country and elsewhere.

O) HASSAN

Hassan may have an eastern look but in Ireland it is the anglicized form of Ó hOsáin.  It is to be distinguished from Ó hOisín and Ó hOiseáin (see Hession and Hishon).  In Co. Derry, where it is numerous, it is spelt Hassan, Hasssen and Hasson.  In the Monaghan Hearth Money Rolls of 1663 it appears as O'Hessan.  There was a Hasson of Wexford among the "principal gentlemen" of that county in 1598, but that family was no doubt of non-Gaelic stock and a John Hassane was an influential merchant in Wexford fifty years earlier.

IRELAND

This surname is numerous in counties Armagh and Antrim.  It is said to have originated in the case of early emigrants from Ireland who thus acquired the Norman name of de Yrlande, some of their descendants returning eventually to this country.  In its modern form it occurs in the 1664 Hearth Money Rolls for Co. Armagh, and Samuel Ireland was one of the Poll-tax Commissioners for Co. Louth in 1660.

In mediavel records we meet more frequently the cognate name le Ireis; its modern form, Irish was formerly well known in Co. Kilkenny; eight families of the name are in Griffith's Valuation of that county in 1851, in which three Irelands also appear.  Ireland is now rare there but fairly numerous in Ulster.Mac)

JENKINS

Jenkins is an English name sometimes also found in Scotland.  It is thought to be Flemish in origin and derives from the personal name Jenkin, a diminutive or pet form of Jan, Jen or Jon (John), originally spelt Janekyn.  (The name Jennings also derives from a diminutive of these three names, using -in instead of -kin.)  In Ireland Jenkins was gaelicised to Sincín or Seincín.

In Ulster it is most common  in Co. Antrim, in the south of which it has occasionally been made Junkin.

KILFEDDER

The Irish name MacGiolla Pheadair (i.e. son of the servant or devotee of St Peter) has several anglicized forms: Kilfeather, Kilfeder, Kilfether and occasionally Gilfeather - the prefix Mac is not now retained with any of them.  The homeland of the sept was Co. Sligo and it has spread into the neighbouring counties of Ulster.

This is not to be confused with Kilfedrick, which is a rare synonym of Kilpatrick.

KIRK

The word 'kirk' for 'church' is common in the north of England and in Scotland, areas where the Danes settled in the tenth century.  (The Scandinavians did not use the sound 'ch'.)  Kirk is a Scottish name of various local origins, from residence near a church.  The Dumfriesshire name Kirkhoe, now rare, also became Kirk.

In Ireland the name is most common in counties Antrim and Louth, though a particular concentration was noted in the parish of Killaney, Barony of Upper Castlereagh, Co.Down, in the mid-nineteenth century.  In Co.Monaghan the name Kirke is thought to be a variant of Carragher, Gaelic Mac Fhearchair, through the seventeenth-century variants Kearcher and Kirker.  Kirk was also noted as synonymous with Kirkpatrick around Coleraine and Limavady in Co. Derry at the start of the twentieth centry (see Kirkpatrick).

LYNESS

Lyness, with its variant spellings, Lynas, Lynass, Lynis, is a numerous name in counties Antrim and Down today.  It appears in the Co. Armagh Hearth Money Rolls of 1664 in three parishes.  Strange though it seems Lynas or Lyness has been recorded in recent times as in use in the Newry area as a synonym of MacAleenan.

MACARDLE

This name, which was found to be twelfth most numerous in its homeland of Co. Monaghan in 1970, is almost exclusive to the south of that county, Armagh and Louth.  The name in Gaelic was Mac Ardghail, from ardghal, meaning 'high valour'.

They are a branch of the MacMahons of Oriel, forst noted as Sliocht Ardghail Mhóir Mhic Mathúna, 'the stock of Ardghal Mór MacMahon', who was chief of the MacMahons from 1402 to 1416.  They were based originally in the barony of Monaghan and a branch became sub-chiefs in Armagh under the O'Neills of the Fews.

The early-eighteenth-century Gaelic poet James MacArdle was of the Fews district.  He was a contemporary of poet Patrick MacAlinden who was married to the poet Siobhán Nic Ardghail (Johanna MacArdle).

MACCURDY (also MacBrearty and MacMurtry)

In Ireland, apart from a few MacCurdys in Co. Derry, the name is found exclusively in Co. Antrim, as is MacMurtry.  MacBrearty, an exclusively Ulster name, is most common in counties Tyrone and Donegal.

These three names, and also MacMurty, were all originally in Gaelic Mac Muircheartaigh, from Muircheartach or Murtagh, meaning 'sea ruler'.  MacCurdy is common on the islands of Arran and Bute, where it is a variant of MacMurtrie, a sept of Clan Stuart of Bute.  In the fifteenth century the MacKurerdys, as they were then called, owned most of Bute.  MacCurdy and its variants are still found on Bute but have now disappeared from Arran, Kintyre and the Isles, having become Currie (see Currie).

Across the North Channel, MacCurdy is a well-known Rathlin name, having been for centuries the most common name on the island.  It is common too in the Glens and on the north coast of Antrim, to which it probably came with the Stewarts when they arrived at Ballintoy, having lost their lands in Bute in the mid-sixteenth century.

MacBrearty has the same form in Gaelic but is most likely Irish.  MacMurty may have the same Irish origin but has become lost in the Scots MacMurtry.

Mac MONAGLE

The MacMonagles are numerous in Co. Donegal and in the city of Derry and those found elsewhere have their origin there.  The name is also spelt MacMonigle, MacMonegal and MacMonigal.  There are several in the Co. Donegal Hearth Money Rolls of 1665 (one appearing, presumably by error, as O'Monigal).  Crone considered Alexander MacMonagle (1848-1919) "the doyen of Ulster journalists" worthy of a place in his Dictionary of Irish Biography.

MARSHALL

This name is found in all the provinces of Ireland but is common only in Ulster, where it is strongest in counties Down, Derry and Antrim.  It is also well known in Dublin.  It has been recorded in Ireland since early medieval times but its current prevalence in Ulster probably stems from post-Plantation Scottish settlers.

The name is Norman, originally le Mareschal.  It stems from the Old French mareschal, meaning a 'farrier'.)  Although the position of marshall became one of great dignity, it is though that, in Scotland at least, the majority of Marshalls derive their name from the more humble occupational name.  A particular concentration of the name was noted north of Newry in Co. Down in the late nineteenth century.

MILLS

In Ireland this name is well known in Leinster and Connacht but is most common in Ulster, especially counties Antrim and Down. Not much is known of its history,  It is an English name, not particularly common in any area, and may have originally signified a 'dweller by the mills', or it may have derived from 'Miles's son'.  In the mid-nineteenth century a particular concentration of the name was noted to the north of Dromore, in the barony of Lower Iveagh in Co. Down.

NORRIS

This name as le Norreys (i.e. the northman) is very frequent in Irish records since the thirteenth century.  It came into special prominence with the arrival of Sir John Norris, who was responsible for the terrible massacre at Rathlin Island in 1575.  He became President of Munster in 1584 and was succeeded by his brother Thomas in 1597.  Another brother, Henry (d.1599), is favourably mentioned by the Four Masters.  The name is now found in considerable numbers in all the provinces except Connacht.  Some curious synonyms of it have been reported by local registrars, e.g. Nowry in Co. Derry, Nurse in Co. Kerry and Northbridge in west Cork.  These three names are very rare in Ireland; Nurse and Nourse are normal synonyms of Norris in England; Northridge is an English name denoting residence at the north ridge.  Bibl., Map

O'HARA

This name is equally common in Ulster, Leinster and Connacht, its main centres being Dublin, Co. Sligo and Co. Antrim.  The name is in Gaelic Ó hEaghra and the family was originally of Co. Sligo, descendants of one Eaghra, pronounced 'ara', a chief of Leyny in that county.

In the fourteenth century a branch migrated to the Glens of Antrim and settled at Crebilly near Ballymena.  Here it became an important sept and entered into several marriages and alliances with the great families of Antrim.  In the mid-nineteenth century O'Haras were still found concentrated in the barony of Lower Glenarm.

At the beginning of the twentieth century the name was being used interchangeably with Haren in several parts of Co. Fermanagh and so some at least of the O'Haras of that county will be originally O'Harens, Gaelic Ó hÁráín.  The O'Harens were erenaghs of Ballymactaggart.

PORTER

Exept for some Porters in Dublin this name in Ireland is exclusive to Ulster.  It is most common in counties Antrim, Down, Derry and Armagh.  It can be of English or Scottish origin.

Porter is an occupational name and though it can derive from the Old French porteur, meaning a 'carrier of burdens', its main derivation is from the Old French portier, a 'porter' or 'doorkeeper'.  In medieval times the office of porter was one of the most important in castle and monastery and came with lands and privileges.  The word was in Scotland gaelicised as portair, which had the extra meaning of 'ferryman'.

The name is one of the most common in every kind of Irish record since the thirteenth century, but most in Ulster will be of post-Plantation origin.  The most famous of the name in Ulster was a Presbyterian minister, the Revd James Porter, 1753-98, of Greyabbey, Co. Down.  He was a United Irishman and a series of letters he published under the title Billy Bluff and Squire Firebrand drew the attention of the government.  He was tried on the false evidence of an informer and hanged at Greyabbey within sight of his home and church.

QUIGLEY (also Quigg)

Quigley is common in all the four provinces of Ireland but is most numerous in Ulster, particularly counties Derry and Donegal.  It is in Gaelic Ó Coigligh, which may derive from the word coigeal, denoting a 'person with unkempt hair'.

There were O'Quigleys, a sept of the Uí Fiachra of Co. Mayo, and another sept of Inishowen in Donegal.  The most common form of the name is now Quigley, but Kegley and Twigley are also found. The name is well known in Fermanagh and Monaghan, a sept of O'Quigley there being erenaghs of Clontivrin in the parish of Clones.

Quigg, an exclusively Ulster name found mainly in Co. Derry but also in Co. Monaghan, can be an abbreviated form of Quigley, but it is also the name of a recognised sept of Co. Derry whose name is in Gaelic Ó Cuaig. Particularly in Co. Down both these names have been made Fivey in the mistaken notion that the Gaelic for 'five' cúig, was an element in their construction.

ROULSTON (also Rolston)

This name is rare in Ireland outside Ulster, where it is most common in counties Tyrone and Antrim.  It is an English toponymic and can derive from several places called Rolleston or Rowlston in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Wiltshire or Yorkshire.  All these placenames were originally spelt Rolvestun, meaning 'Rolf's farm'.

Most in Ulster descend from the Staffordshire Rollestons, R. Rollestone of that shire being one of the English undertakers of the Plantation.  He was granted 1000 acres in Teemore in the barony of Oneilland West in Co. Armagh.  The name is also found as Rollstone and Rowlston.

SHERRARD

Several men of this name have been prominent in England, their native country.  In Ireland it has been mainly associated with Co. Derry from the seventeenth century to the present day.  Two Sherrards, Daniel and William, were among the thirteen famous apprentice boys whose unofficial action led to the subsequent successful resistance of the siege of Derry in 1689.

TONER

Apart from a few in Dublin, Toners are found almost exclusively in Ulster, particularly in counties Derry and Armagh.  A few in Ulster may be English.  The name is in Gaelic Ó Tomhrair, from a Norse personal name, Tomar.

However, the family is not of Norse origin, but was a sept of the Cenél Eoghain based originally on the banks of the Foyle, near Lifford in Co. Donegal.  They later migrated to Derry and Armagh.

The name is found in England, where it was early imported from Ireland (recorded as Tunere in 1242).  It can also be from le Toner, 'dweller by the farm or village', from Old English tun.

Variants of the name include Tonner, Tonra and Tonry.

WILLIAMS see Williamson

WILLIAMSON (also Williams)

In Ireland Williamson is almost exclusive to Ulster and is most common in counties Antrim, Derry, Armagh and Tyrone;  most will be of Scottish origin.  Williams is less common in Ulster than in Leinster and Munster.  It is more common in Co. Antrim than elsewhere and most will be of English or Welsh origin.

The personal name William derives from the Old German Willihelm and when introduced into Britain by the Normans, it became the single most popular personal name in England and remained so until it was superseded by John.  It gave rise to a host of surnames including Williamson and Williams but by far the most common was Williams.  It is currently the third most numerous name in England, the first being Smith and the second, Jones.  In Wales William was made Gwilym, which became the surname Gwilliams and Then Williams.

Williams was never common in Scotland which retained the longer Williamson.  This was very common in the Lowlands.  The Highland name MacWilliam was also anglicised as Williamson (see MacWilliams).  There were MacWilliams or Williamsons, a sept of Clan Gunn, who descended from a later chief of the clan called William.  There were also Williamsons in Caithness, a sept of Clan Mackay.

Charles Williams, 1838-1904, the war correspondent, was born at Coleraine, Co. Derry.  As a reporter for the Evening Standard and the Daily Chronicle, he covered almost every war in Europe and Africa in a thirty-year period, from the Franco-German War in 1870 to the recapture of Khartoum in 1898.  He also founded the Press Club.

WARKE

This name is an English toponymic derived from a place in Northumberland.  It is now quite numerous in Donegal and Derry where it was found in the seventeenth century as the Hearth Money Rolls attest.

GLOSSARY