Irish Surnames Explanation

When tracing your family, clearly the first stage in locating and identifying your ancestors is the Surname because that provides a key link to the past.

Therefore it is worth spending time finding out as much as possible about the origin and history of your surname. If, for example, you discover that your surname is of Gaelic, Norman, Huguenot, Scottish or Jewish origin, it will provide you with information that could prove invaluable in guiding you to the relevant records.

It follows therefore that knowing as much as possible about your surname is an important part of any genealogical search.

The surnames which we find in the Ireland of today reflect its rich and varied  history and the people who have arrived and settled in the country.

Ireland was amongst the first countries to develop a system of hereditary surnames ie names which were handed down from one generation to the next. During the 11th Century as the population grew and first names became an ineffective way of identifying people the use of surnames developed.

At first, Irish surnames were formed by adding, for example, `Mac' to the father's personal name or `O' to that of any earlier ancestor. For example, `O'Neil' simply meant `descendant of Niall (Neil)'. After a while, however, other types of surnames were adopted which were not based on personal names, for example `Mac Nulty', which meant `son of the Ulsterman'.

Surnames which we find in Ireland today have a diverse range of origins reflecting not only the growth of the indigenous population but also the many settlers from other nations. The first major group of settlers who had an impact on surnames were the Anglo-Normans who following the conquest of England by William the Conqueror came came to Ireland in the twelfth century.

Whilst the Anglo-Normans integrated quickly into Irish society, they did bring with them their own distinctive surnames. Examples of the names which they brought with them and which are now widespread throughout Ireland are Fitzgerald, Butler, Power and Walsh.

The next important settlement occurred during the 16th Century when large areas of land, mainly in the midlands of Ireland, were confiscated by the English government and English families were `planted' (or settled) on them. Names such as Spenser, Hyde and Browne became established in Ireland at this time.

As the 17th Century gets underway we find that much greater settlement of Ireland Scotland and England takes place.  People were encouraged by the British Government to purchase land in some parts of Ulster. Thousands of people took advantage of this and migrated to Ulster. These people were known as `planters'. Many of them were Presbyterians. As a result of this `plantation', names such as Graham, Patterson, Ferguson, Kerr and Stewart became numerous in the north eastern part of Ulster, particularly in counties Antrim and Down.

As English and Scottish influence spread during the 17th Century, many old Irish surnames were anglicised. This was done in a variety of ways. Some surnames were translated into the new English equivalent or were changed to a similar sounding English name. The prefixes `O' and `Mac' were frequently dropped in an attempt to make them sound more English. Thus Mac anGhabhonn (son of the Smith) was variously rendered as MacGowan, Gowan or Smith.

Towards the end of the 17th Century, another group of immigrants settled in Ireland. These were the Huguenots who were French Protestants escaping from violent religious persecution in their own country. They largely settled around Dublin, Portarlington and Lisburn. Their legacy survives today in such surnames as Fontaine, D'Ollier, La Touche and Refausse.

Two other important settler groups contributed to the variety of `Irish' surnames. The first of these was the Palatine Germans, who came to Ireland at the beginning of the 18th Century and contributed names such as Switzer, Ruttle and Boveniser. The second was a large group of Jews from Eastern Europe, who also came to Ireland to escape religious persecution at the end of the nineteenth century. Their surnames are distinctive and include Jaffe, Cohen, Greenburg and Heiner.

The process of Anglicisation, combined with the fact that before the 20th Century illiteracy was widespread, means that many Irish surnames can be spelt in a variety of ways. Consider, for example, the surname Johnston. Variants of this include Johnstone, Johnston, Johnson, MacEion (son of John), MacOwen, MacKeon, and MacKeown. The surname Kearns can be variously rendered as Cairns, Carns, Cearnes, Kerns and Kearnes.

Many Irish surnames are associated with particular areas. For example, the surname McNell is found in Country Donegal, whilst O'Sullivan is traditionally associated with West Cork. In the case of unusual surnames, this can sometimes provide you with a starting point for your research.

However it would be wrong to assume that all people with the same surname within an area are necessarily your ancestors. They may be, but any suspected links should, as far as possible, be substantiated by other forms of evidence.

When you start your research you should familiarise yourself with all the variants of the surnames in which you are interested. Make a list of the variants and refer to it when searching any indexes or records. Before this century, however, there was little standardisation in the spelling of a surname and therefore with spelling variations you need to be aware that someone might have a "different" name at birth, marriage and death!