Topic: A History of Irish Surnames: Is Yours Here?

[Sarge]

Just click here: https://blogs.ancestry.co.uk/cm/a-history-of-irish-surnames-is-yours-here/?o_xid=73976&o_lid=73976&o_sch=External+Paid+Media


Sargent

Name Meaning English and French:

In medieval times this did not denote a rank in the army, but was an occupational name for a servant, Middle English, Old French sergent (Latin serviens, genitive servientis, present participle of servire ‘to serve’). The surname probably originated for the most part in this sense, but the word also developed various more specialized meanings, being used for example as a technical term for a tenant by military service below the rank of a knight, and as the name for any of certain administrative and legal officials in different localities, which may also have contributed to the development of the surname. The sense ‘non-commissioned officer’ did not arise until the 16th century.

[The Bournemouth Red]

Mine (Wallis) means Welsh speaker.

I suppose I did learn Welsh when I was at school in Machen...

[Fitzy.]

Mine means Bastard of Patrick...

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

Mine is an Ulster-Scot name. A name synonymous with one particular Irish rebellion.

[ToneLa]

Mine translates to Rough Peace... Which is about right 

[rob1966]

Mine is originally old English, mainly Derbyshire and York, which is where most with my surname live now.

Derived from the name Knight. Only managed to trace my family back to 1839 and have got  relatives coming into Liverpool from Belfast, his brother went to Manchester. As far as the phone book is concerned, the only people in Liverpool with our surname is my Dad and my sister and my and mine are the only ones in Manchester.

[Big Red Richie]

 reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Seanáin ‘descendant of Seanán’, a personal name based on a pet form of seán ‘old’. in County Clare, a reduced Anglicized form of Mac Giolla tSeanáin ‘son of the servant of St. Seanán’. In the Irish midlands Leonard and Nugent have been adopted as equivalents of this name.

[sms1986]

I don't have an Irish surname, but have some in my ancestry, I already knew some of the following but it's interesting to know what the surname means, especially if the meaning is not obvious -

- Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cionaodha or Mac Cionaoith ‘son of Cionaodh’. Although they were from Armagh before emigrating to Liverpool, there is a possibility that they were Scottish originally. The first one to come to England was an horse ostler who died of cirrhosis, whilst his son was a basket maker who moved to Leyland, where he married a Bannister (the surname meaning "basket maker").

-  Irish (Ulster): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giollagáin, a double diminutive of giolla ‘lad’. Probably from Louth, but not 100% sure.

- (reduced form, so no O') Irish: from Gaelic Ó Ceallacháin ‘descendant of Ceallachán’, a diminutive of the personal name Ceallach, possibly meaning ‘lover of churches’, from ceall ‘church’, or (more likely) ‘bright-headed’, from cen ‘head’ + lach ‘light’. Oldest known ancestor was a soldier from Roscommon who was stationed at Dover when my ancestor/his daughter was born. He was also stationed in South Africa and China for a while.

- Irish and Scottish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Eochaidh ‘son of Eochaidh’, a personal name based on each ‘horse’. Mine were from Dublin.

-  Irish: reduced form of MacIlmurray, Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Mhuire (see Gilmore). Mine were from Meath, so more likely to be Irish and Scottish.

- Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Conghaile ‘descendant of Conghal’, a name meaning ‘hound valiant’ or of Ó Conghalaigh ‘descendant of Conghalach’, a derivative of Conghal; the two surnames have long been confused. Another possible origin is the West Cork name Mac Coingheallaigh (or Ó Coingheallaigh) ‘son (or ‘descendant’) of Coingheallach’, a personal name meaning ‘faithful to pledges’. Mine have links to Dublin.

- English, Scottish, and Irish: from Rousel, a common Anglo-Norman French nickname for someone with red hair, a diminutive of Rouse with the hypocoristic suffix -el. Americanized spelling of German Rüssel, from a pet form of any of the various personal names formed with the Old High German element hrod ‘renown’. Mine were from Cork.

- Irish: reduced form of O’Sullivan, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Súileabháin ‘descendant of Súileabhán’, a personal name composed of the elements súil ‘eye’ + dubh ‘black’, ‘dark’ + the diminutive suffix -án. Mine were from Cork.

- Irish: variant of Herlihy. Irish (Munster): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hUrthuile ‘descendant of Urthuile’. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Murthuile, ‘descendant of Murthuile’ (see Murley). English: habitational name from places in Berkshire and Warwickshire so named from Old English hyrne ‘corner’, ‘bend’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. Again, mine were also from Cork.

[McrRed]

No definition for mine.

But no surprise there was a big emigration in the early 1860s to New York.
The rest stayed in Ireland until the 1950s when they ended up over here.

[vicgill]

No definition for mine.

But no surprise there was a big emigration in the early 1860s to New York.
The rest stayed in Ireland until the 1950s when they ended up over here.

My Grandfather was born in Dublin, Patrick Gill My grandmother was born in Cork Roseanne Lynch how they got together I will never know but they must have got together , they had 13  kids he Patrick volunteered to join the British army in 1914 he came home a major apparently he won all his commissions on the battle fields and came home a Major he pissesd off to America, leaving behind his wife and 13 kids and joined the Al Capone gang  it was during prohibition and he was caught and charged with Mafia connections and was deported back to England he lived in Birkenhead and contacted one of his daughters and told her that he had a nice wodger of dosh for the Family she went back home and told them all, they said go back and tell him to shove it up his arse Prohibition was ended and he went back to America, I havent heard any more about him. When the Garden Festival in Liverpool opened you could go there and there was shop that could trace your family name and i come away with a lovely coat of arms, a castle and two lovely big birds either side but that was it, so that-s all I know about my grandfather oh and it was said he was a ruthless bastard, as for my nin Grandmother she died but she worked so hard to feed her family taking in washing and ironing and she would go to the local shops by the Crown pub at the start of the East Lancashire road and go to the greengrocer, does anybody remember the wooden boxes, Bolcer wood that the fruit and Veg came in she asked the shopkeeper could she have them, she then mad little rolls of wood to make it easy to start a fire. All the kids found some type of work to earn a bit, my dad was gutted he had won a scholarship to Saint Edwards college it was a Catholic School and to get into it your parents had to have a bit of dosh or you could pass their entrance exam so he was desperate to become an engineer and sat the exam he passed with flying colours but had to give it up to earn money to put in the pot, he became a fairground boxer, you dont see any of that anymore the guy with the microphone would say five pounds to anybody who can last three rounds with our lad here. he did well and put quite a bit of money in the pot he also became a full time boxer and fought a well known boxer from Liverpool Joe Curran at the Liverpool Stadium he was a lightweight but carried a hell of a punch in 1947 we got our own home a council house on the old Cantril Farm estate he studied hard and became a fitter then he studied hard and became an engineer and eventually he became "The chief material and mechanical handling Engineer of the English Electric Company they made electrical appliances, washing machines, televisions, he did return to fighting and I saw him lay two men flat out in the street. He died in 1968 he was only 54, he used to come and watch me play football and although I let him down I did pass the 11 plus when I was 10 and he was so pleased he picked out Old swan Technical college for me but my love was football and  after playing for Liverpool Schoolboys I was invited to have a trial with LFC there quite a few other clubs asking too, it was Liverpool for me. I like to think I made him proud of me and I still miss him and so does my mum she will be 95 next month, when the second world war started he tried to be a pilot in the RAF but they said he couldn't, they needed his skills to keep the planes flying   Well there you are, a brief summary of my life and how I got my surname, if you have a problem sleeping reading this should do the trick.


The Irish have saint names for instance my fathers full name was Henry Gerrard Joseph Gill

   

[Sarge]

Great stuff Vic.

[McrRed]

Love that Vic.  You joke it's boring but it's amazing to see how lives (and whole families) evolve around chance elements. I'll have to do mine someday... for the insomniacs. [emoji4]

I worked on the Garden Festival but never saw the stall.  Maybe it was too soon for me (angry young man syndrome an all that).

[Fiasco]

Mine literally translates to 'this guy is a prick'. How accurate

'...which is an Anglicization of Gaelic Ó Conchobhair ‘descendant of Conchobhar.'

[kesey]

Family names .

Dixon - English / Scottish Borders. Whisky heads apparently.
Murray - Irish / Scottish but may of had to swim.
Keen - Irish / West Country England very confused on what to drink . Cider or Guinness.  So confused they swam to..... and possibly back.
Hoare - County Cork meaning man with white hair , possible originated from County Derry. Guinness drinkers . They got the ferry.

[vicgill]

Love that Vic.  You joke it's boring but it's amazing to see how lives (and whole families) evolve around chance elements. I'll have to do mine someday... for the insomniacs. [emoji4]

I worked on the Garden Festival but never saw the stall.  Maybe it was too soon for me (angry young man syndrome an all that).

My mistake mate the place for getting your Ancestry done was in the Albert Dock which was were we went for some refreshment.

On my mothers side her brother who I was very proud to be named after Victor Woolley volunteered to join the Royal Navy when he was 17yrs old he then volunteered at the start of the war he also volunteered to join the very first Special Force and when it finished he was awarded the freedom of the City of Copenhagen for his bravery Now I have a photo of him receiving this award but I have tried several times to get answer from the Town Hall of Copenhagen but I don't even get a reply. when the war was over he volunteered for a further 22yrs in Submarines, he was heavyweight boxing champion of the navy and also played in the football team whenever they reached a port of a foreign country, he was a tasty Centre Forward and when he came home on leave he came and watched me play for LFC. I will be 74 soon and to my shame I have never visited Ireland (Southern) My dad was a Catholic and my mum A Church of England, there wasn't any trouble in the families and in 2008 Received a message asking me if my dad's nickname was sonny, I replied and it was Christina my dad's niece and it was this wonderful lady ? who helped me with my search and gave me most of the information in this post, I dont know if any of you have heard  of "Effing Nellie" she was my dad's sister she ran pubs (2) but not at the same time round the Vauxhall Road area her husband Bob Rankin was only a little fella it was Nellie who chucked the customers out if they became troublesome., there is a bit more but I dont want to bore you all.

[Billy The Kid]

Hoare - County Cork meaning man with white hair , possible originated from County Derry. Guinness drinkers . They got the ferry.

My sister is married to a Hoare. He's from Cork and has grey hair. He drinks Murphy's though

[McrRed]

My mistake mate the place for getting your Ancestry done was in the Albert Dock which was were we went for some refreshment.

On my mothers side her brother who I was very proud to be named after Victor Woolley volunteered to join the Royal Navy when he was 17yrs old he then volunteered at the start of the war he also volunteered to join the very first Special Force and when it finished he was awarded the freedom of the City of Copenhagen for his bravery Now I have a photo of him receiving this award but I have tried several times to get answer from the Town Hall of Copenhagen but I don't even get a reply. when the war was over he volunteered for a further 22yrs in Submarines, he was heavyweight boxing champion of the navy and also played in the football team whenever they reached a port of a foreign country, he was a tasty Centre Forward and when he came home on leave he came and watched me play for LFC. I will be 74 soon and to my shame I have never visited Ireland (Southern) My dad was a Catholic and my mum A Church of England, there wasn't any trouble in the families and in 2008 Received a message asking me if my dad's nickname was sonny, I replied and it was Christina my dad's niece and it was this wonderful lady ? who helped me with my search and gave me most of the information in this post, I dont know if any of you have heard  of "Effing Nellie" she was my dad's sister she ran pubs (2) but not at the same time round the Vauxhall Road area her husband Bob Rankin was only a little fella it was Nellie who chucked the customers out if they became troublesome., there is a bit more but I dont want to bore you all.

So that's where you got your footballing chops from, your namesake?

Now you've said it... You've got to go and make that trip. Who knows what you will find?!

[Terry de Niro]

O'shea Name Meaning Irish (County Kerry): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Séaghdha ‘descendant of Séaghdha’, a byname meaning ‘fine’ or ‘fortunate’.

[sms1986]

Had a look at some of the Irish names connected to Liverpool FC -

Carragher - Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhearchair ‘son of Fearchar’, a personal name derived from Celtic fear ‘man’ + car ‘dear’, ‘beloved’.

McManaman - Variant of McManamin, but no further information. Surnamedb has a possible link to the English Merryman.

Finnan - Irish (County Mayo): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fionnáin ‘descendant of Fionnán’, from the diminutive of fionn ‘fair’.

Keane - Southern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Catháin ‘descendant of Cathán’, a personal name from a diminutive of cath ‘battle’. Compare Kane. Irish: occasionally an Anglicized form of Ó Céin ‘descendant of Cian’, a personal name meaning ‘distant’, ‘long’. English: variant spelling of Keen. Americanized spelling of German Kühn(e) (see Kuehn).

Whelan - Irish (southern provinces): reduced and altered Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Faoláin ‘descendant of Faolán’, a personal name representing a diminutive of faol ‘wolf’.

Keegan - Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Aodhagáin ‘son of Aodhagán’, a personal name that is a pet form of the ancient Irish personal name Aodh ‘fire’ (see McKay).

Kennedy - Irish and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ceannéidigh ‘descendant of Ceannéidigh’, a personal name derived from ceann ‘head’ + éidigh ‘ugly’.

McDermott - Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Diarmada ‘son of Diarmaid’, a personal name possibly composed of the separative prefix di- + farmat ‘envy’, hence meaning ‘free from envy’. This name was borne in Celtic legend by the lover of Gráinne, and, in historical times, by Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, the 12th-century king of Leinster whose appeal to the English for support led directly to the Anglo-Norman presence in Ireland. Mac Diarmada was an important name in Connacht.

Byrne - Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Broin ‘descendant of Bran’, a personal name based on bran ‘raven’. Bran was the name of a son of the King of Leinster, who died at Cologne in 1052, and also of the hero of an 8th century voyage tale.

Murphy - Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Murchadha ‘descendant of Murchadh’, a personal name composed of the elements muir ‘sea’ + cath ‘battle’, i.e. ‘sea-warrior’. This was an important family in Tyrone.

Fagan - Gaelicized version of a surname of Norman origin, from the personal name Pagan meaning ‘rustic’. in some cases it is a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fágáin or Ó Faodhagáin, which are probably dialect forms of Ó hÓgáin (see Hogan, Hagan) and Ó hAodhagáin (see Hagan). Irish lenited f (spelled fh) is soundless, and a number of words beginning with vowels have gained an initial f in some dialects; such seems to be the case here. occasionally an Anglicized form of Mac Phaidín (see McFadden) or Ó Fiacháin (see Feehan).

Moran - Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Móráin ‘descendant of Mórán’, a personal name meaning ‘great’, ‘large’; the stress is normally on the first syllable.

[Sarge]

Apart from my surname my other 3 are O' Brien, McGuinness and Egan.

[Sarge]

Had a look at some of the Irish names connected to Liverpool FC -

Haha very good just shows how connected our Islands really are.

[kesey]

My sister is married to a Hoare. He's from Cork and has grey hair. He drinks Murphy's though