Irish Family Names (Continued)

Irish Jesuit Province

Irish Family Names (Continued)Author(s): John RyanSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 45, No. 529 (Jul., 1917), pp. 443-447Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20504848 .

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t 443 1

IRISH FAMILY NAMES BY JOHN RYAN.

(Continued).

The Norse, as before stated, occupied Limerick some tinme between A.D. 910 and A.D. 915, and it thenceforward became one of their most important strongholds. In A.D). '967, on the day following the victory of Sulchoid, Mahon

entered Limerick and burned the fortifications. After some time the Norse returned, but were again expelled in A.D. 972, and a third time in A.D. 975. After Clon tarf, Limerick continued to be a Danish city.

The county was, of course, overrun by the Normqns, and large tracts of territory were taken over by them.

When surnames became common, the most important was that of O'Donovan. The possessions of thia family lay in the nmiddle of the county, in the neighbourhood of

Bruree. Some time, at a later date, a scion of the house settled in Cork, and became the ancestor of the O'Dono vans of that county. Other important families in ancient times were the O'Kenneallys, O'Hallinans, O'Flannerys,

O'Connells, O'Caseys, O'Ryans, O'Kerwicks, O'Muleahys, O'Gradys, O'Hurleys, O'Collinses, O'Hartigans, O' Shee bans, O'Quinns, and, above all, the O'Briens. Of these, the O'Connells were of the same descent as the O'Donovans, and were settled chiefly in the West of the county in the neighbourhood of Abbeyfeale. Of the same family, too, were the O'Collinses, O'Flannerys, O'Lyonses, and O'Kerwicks. The O'Gradys, whose lands lay chiefly in Clare; the O'Caseys settled principally in the Co. Cork, near Mtitchelstown, but also holding lands in the neighb bourhood of Patrickswell, Co. Limerick; the O'Hanrahans, O'Hartigans, O'Sheehans and O'Hurleys were all genea logically connected with the O'Briens of Thomond. The

O'Ryans were a Leinster family, but settled in eastern Limerick from the earliest times. They possess but a small portion of the county, their lands lying chiefly in the modern baronv of Owneybeg and in the adjoining parts of the baronies of Clanwilliam and Coonagh; but in that



444 THE IRISH MONTHLY

portion they are so closely packed that an extraordinary number of soubriquets have to be used to distinguish the different families. They are to-day easily the best repre sented family in the county.

The chief Norman families who settled in the county were the Fitzgeralds, Burkes, Whites, Sarsfields, Roches, Browns, Barretts, Costelloes, Walls, Herberts, Duidons, Cusacks, Stritches, and Sextons. Of these, the Fitzgeralds are still one of the strongest families of the county, and

many of the others are by no means badly represented. Families of considerable strength whose connections are

with the O'Briens of Thomond are the O'Maloneys, Mac Namaras, O'Ahearns,- MacClancys, MacEneirys, O'Hogans, O'Spillanes, O'Toomeys, O'Shanahans, O'Kearneys, Mac Curtins, O'Hennessys, O'Hayeses, O'Maras, O'Noonans, and O'Slatterys. Culhane is merely an anglicised form of the Irish surname, 0 Cuilesin, generally rendered O'Collins; while Kirby is more usually found as O'Kerwick. The King family of Co. Limerick are probably the branch of the O'Brien family known in Irish as Mac Conraoi. The name Maclnerney recalls a time when it was customary for each monastery to have a lay chieftain to look after its secular affairs. This chieftain was called in Irish the " Airchinneach," from which term the surname Mac an

Airchinnigh-in English, Maclnerney-is formed. Normile is the common rendering in Limerick and Clare of the Irish name O'Gormghaile. Enright is the anglicisecl rendering of the Irish name 0 h-Ionnrachtaigh. The family is common in Limerick and Cork, and is quite distinct from the Northern family which in Irish bears the same name, but which in English is more generally known as Hanratty.

The Creaghs, probably the most distinguished of all Limerick families, are a branch of the O'Neills of Thomond. In the tenth century a number of these O'Neills came into Limerick to help in expelling the Danes. The name " Craobhach " or " of the branches " became a common

epithet for these men, owing to their habit of wearing sprigs of green in their helmets. In later times the sur name Mac Giolla Craoibhe was formed from this, and has



IRISH FAMILY NAMES 445

been anglicised into " Creagh." Countless references to this family are found in documents dealing with mediaeval and ancient Limerick.

The O'Donnells of Limerick are a branch of the Donegal family. Their ancestor was a brother of Niall Garbh O'Donnell, King of Tyrconnell in the fifteenth century: The O'Sullivans, Walshes, AMurphys and Lynches are now among the most numerous of Limerick names.

The Danish occupation is recalled by such names as Harrold, Ivers and Dowdall; the Plantations by Nash, Massy, Harris, Downes, Cooke, Crowe, Kidd, Franklin, t3ubbins, Kirkwood, Maybury, Christy, Long, Russell,

Neville, Raleigh, and Turner. Many French and Flemish IHuguenots made their way to Ireland, a fact recalled by the presence in Limerick of the fairly well represented family of Guerin.

A very interesting colony in the county is that of the Germans from the Rhine Palatinate. In the early eighteenth century the treatment of German Protestants by their Catholic rulers in the Palatinate aroused intense indignation amongst their English brethren. Queen Anne, in 1709, was prevailed on to send a fleet to Rotterdam for the rescue of some of the sufferers. This fleet brought over seven thousand refugees. Of these, unfortunately, it was found impossible to accommodate more than half a-dozen families or so in England, and arrangements had to be made to provide for the remainder elsewhere. Of the 7,000, consequently some 3,000 were despatched to the American Colonies, and were settled in Pennsylvania and North Carolina; the remaining 4,000 were bestowed in Ireland, almost wholly in Co. Limerick. Here they

were given land on a generous scale, " eight acres for every man, woman and child," at an annual rent of five shillings per acre, the Government undetaking to pay the rent for twenty yearis. The lands required for the new comers had, of course, to be vacated by the " natives," so that this district of Limerick became one of the most disturbed parts of Ireland for half-a-century. The bitter feelings with which the people of Co. Limerick regarded these Palatines or "Palantins" had subsided to a great extent after a century and a-half, and since the middle



446 THE IRISH MONTHLY

of the last century mutual relations have been pretty cordial. It is interesting to note that, despite the advan tages whiclh these planters originally enjoyed, despite their excellence in agriculture and their acknowledged industry, they have suffered as much from emigration as their less favourably circumstanced neighbours. Evidently, Celtic blood is not the only bar to prosperity and progress on the soil of Ireland! Common surnames amongst them are Modlar, Pyper, Switzer, Daube, Delmege, Stark, Lad wig, Reynard, Gilliard, Latchford, Neazor, Bowen, Heavenor, AMilliar, Ruttle, Shire, and Bovanizer. Christian names are Adam, Jacob, Jethro, Christopher, Julius, Ebenezer, and Nehemiah.

However succinct and incomplete, this accouint of sur names in a few of our typical counties makes clear some points of inLerest.

In the first place, bearers of some well-known Irish surnames generally imagine that tlley are all of one family.

O'Neills, for instance, generally think they necessarily belong to the O'Neills of Ulster. This, of course, is very incorrect. Those bearing the name O'Neill may belong to any one of at least four separate families. The same hlolds good in an even greater degree for the O'Connors and O'Kellys, and for numerous other families.

Another point of interest is the remarkable numerical weakness of the English and other foreign elements in Ireland. Even in Ulster, if we exclude Antrim and Down,

where Scotch names predominate, and if we consider-as we rightly may-as Irish the old Norman settlers, foreign names cannot compare with Irish names in numerical strength, whilst in the three remaining provinces they are, comparatively speakina, so weak as to be almost negligible. Those who are labouring to make Ireland once more Irish may comfort themselves with the assurance that the people of Ireland are, as a whole, overwhelmingly Irish in stock.

The light which surnames throw on the expansion or the weakening of families is also interesting. The steady advance of the O'Neill family over most of Ulster, from its cradle in Inishowen, is clearly shown by the presence of this and allied surnames in all the newly-acquired dis tricts. So with the expansion of the O'Briens over most



IRISH FAMILY NAMES 447

of Munster from their home in Easterni Clare, and so with the O'Connors over much of Connacht from their ancestral settlement in Roscommon. The weakening of certain families is seen in, for instance, the almost entire expulsion of the 'MacCarthys and O'Sullivans fron the plains of Tipperary, where their ancestors rualed suipreme for some six centuiries. It is seen, too, in the retirement of the

O'Byrnes and O'Tooles from the fertile fields of Kildar% to the inhospitable heights of the Wicklow mountains. >

In conclusion, a word may be said of the abominabfe mutilation of many of our Irish names in the effort to reduce them to "respectable" English forms. Now that ignorance as to the true character and the real glories of

ouir past is beginning to disappear, we should strive to do hlonouir to our ancestors and to atone for our disrespect towards them by giving them (and ourselves, too) their rightfuLl names. If the ideal of an Irish-speaking Ireland cannot be secured in our lifetime, and bilingualism is the best we can hiope for, an English as well as an Irish form of each surname must, I suppose, be tolerated. The English form should, however, approximate closely to the Irish one, and shotuld, where possible, never lack the dis tinctive MIac or 0. This may be a small point in the assertion of our nuationhood, but-attention to the small

points as well as to the big is a mark of those who are in

earnest in their professions. Unlike most other improve ments, the wish alone is all that is necessary to secure this. A growing tendency in this direction is at present to be noted, but to ensure success an organised movement is necessary. This, as one of the thousand small ways in which they can be helpful, will appeal to all who believe in Ireland and Ireland's destiny.

" Sweet are the Uses of "-advertisement.

Draw coarse and crude would you attention gain Draw Truth just truly, and you draw in vain! Faint shade and half-tint are passed heedless by, NVhere black and white will catch the public eye So players for the lime-light paint their faces, And glaring give what Nature faintly traces.

JOHN J. HAYDEN, N' LL.D.



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Irish Family Names (Continued)