Irish Surnames & Timeline

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This is a list of many of the most common Irish surnames found in the
United States and also their root derivations. Like most Western names,
many of these are based upon an ancestor's occupation or appearance or
place of residence.
The prefixes of "O'", "Mc", and "Mac" are common in Irish surnames. These
are all references to ancestry.
Mac is the Gaelic word for son. It is now often abbreviated to "Mc", but
originally it was the longer word and normally followed by a space and
then the surname. There is a tradition that Mac is Irish and Mc is
Scottish, but this is false. Both variations are in wide use in both
countries.
O is really a word all by itself, it means "grandson". Only in recent
years has it been attached to the surname with an apostrophe.
In ancient Ireland, there were no fixed surnames. A man was known as the
the "son of" his father's first name. Occasionally a man would be known
by his grandfather's name (by the word O) if his grandfather was
especially noteworthy. Around the twelfth century, most all of Europe
and England adopted standardized surnames. Irish families did the same.
The other distinctively Irish prefix is Fitz, as in Fitzgerald or
FitzAlan. This is a Norman French prefix, brought to Ireland by the
Normans who previously had lived in England. It is derived from the
French word fils, meaning "son of". Therefore, Fitz and Mac mean about
the same and were interchangeable at one time.
It is now common for the O and Mac prefixes to be eliminated entirely.
The original Celtic words are listed in parentheses.
Barry - from the Norman French surname de Barri
Brennan - O Braonain, descendant of Braonain (a word for "sorrow")
Burke - from the Norman French surname de Burgh or de Bourg
Byrne - O Broin, descendant of Broin (bran means "raven")
Casey - O Cathasaigh, descendant of Cathasaigh (cathasach means
"watchful")
Daly - O Dalaigh, descendant of Dalaigh (dalach means "assemblyman")
Donohue - O Donnchadha, descendant of Donnchadha (donn means "brown
haired")
Dunne - O Duinne, a descendant of Duinn (donn means "brown" or "brown
haired"
Fitzgerald - son of Gerald (a Norman French name)
Fitzpatrick - This name was originally Mac Giolla Padraig, meaning a
descendant of a devotee of St. Patrick. In later years the Mac
prefix was changed to the Norman "Fitz".
Flynn - O Floinn, descendant of Floinn (flann, meaning "ruddy")
Kelly - O Ceallaigh, descendant of Ceallaigh (ceallach is the word for
"strife"
Kennedy - O Cinneide, descendant of Cinneide (ceann means "head",
eidigh means "ugly")
Lynch - from the Norman French surname de Lench
McCarthy - Mac Carthaigh, descendant of Carthaigh (carthach means
"loving")
Murphy - O Murchadha, descendant of a murchadh (sea warrior)
O'Brien - O Briain, descendant of Briain (Brian Boru)
O'Connor - O Conchobhair, descendant of Conchobhair
O'Donnell - O Domhnaill, descendant of Domhnaill
O'Neill - O Neill, descendant of Neill ("Neill of the Nine Hostages")
Quinn - O Cuinn, descendant of Conn
Regan - O Riagain, descendant of Riagain
Reilly - O Ragailligh, descendant of Ragaillach
Ryan - O Malvilriain, descendant of Mavilriain (a name not
identifiable)
Sullivan - O Suileabhain, descendant of Suileabhain (suil means "eye"
and Levan is a Celtic deity. Therefore, this is the "eye of the
god")
Walsh - a person of Welsh origin

Irish Timeline

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Many times it is interesting to study the history of a country or region in
order to understand why an ancestor emigrated or even to find where his
ancestors may have originated from. This file is a "timeline" or brief
historical outline of Irish History. It may help you understand why your
Irish ancestor left Ireland looking for better opportunities in the New
World and also give hints as to where to find records of genealogy
interest.
6,000 B.C.
The first human settlements in Ireland, an island lying on the western
fringe of Europe, were made relatively late in European prehistory,
around 6000 BC. These were mostly Celtic people called Pretani or
Cruithin. The arrived from Britain and settled mostly in east Ulster.
The Loiges, another branch of the Cruitin, live in the midlands.
600-150 B.C.
Sometime between about 600 and 150 BC, other Celtic peoples from western
Europe, who came to be known as GAELS, invaded Ireland and subdued the
previous inhabitants. They spread from Antrim to Kerry. Erainn from
Britain also settled in the south of Ireland and later conquered the rest
of Ireland. The basic units of Gaelic society were the tuatha, or petty
kingdoms, of which perhaps 150 existed in Ireland. The tuatha remained
independent of one another, but they shared a common language, Gaelic,
and a class of men called brehons, who were learned in customary law and
helped to preserve throughout Ireland a remarkably uniform but archaic
social system. One reason for the unique nature of Irish society was
that the Romans, who transformed the Celtic societies of Britain and
other societies on the Continent with their armies, roads, administrative
system, and towns, never tried to conquer Ireland.
250 B.C.
Laigin from Armorica in northwestern France arrived in southeast Ireland.
50 A.D.
Gaeil or Goidets migrate from Europe to the Kenmare River in south Kerry
and the Boyne estuary near Drogheda.
450 A.D.
Another consequence of Ireland's isolation from Romanized Europe was the
development of a distinctive Celtic type of Christianity. Saint Patrick
introduced mainstream Latin Christianity into the country around the year
432 arriving at Tara in Meath. The system of bishops with territorial
dioceses, modeled on the Roman Empire's administrative system, did not
take secure root in Ireland at this time. While the autonomous tuath
remained the basic unit of Gaelic secular society, the autonomous
monastery became the basic unit of Celtic Christianity. During the 6th
and 7th centuries the Irish monasteries were great centers of learning,
sending out such missionaries as saints Columba and Columban to the rest
of Europe. What was for most of Europe the Dark Ages was for Ireland the
golden age. Religious art, such as the Ardagh Chalice and the Book of
Kells and other illuminated manuscripts, flourished alongside secular,
even pagan, artistic achievements, such as the Tara Brooch and the great
Irish epic Tain Bo Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley).
before 600 A.D.
St. Brendan of Kerry is said to have sailed to North America (not
proven).
795
Vikings land near St. Columcille's monastery on Lambay Island.
800-850
Norwegian Vikings plunder many Irish monasteries. In 845, Thorgils, king
of the Norsemen in Ireland, is captured and killed by Maelseachlainn,
king of Meath.
853
Danish fleet defeats the Norwegians and takes possession of Dublin.

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1014
Irish defeat Norwegian and Danish forces at Clontarf.
1066
William the Conqueror becomes King of England.
1169
First Norman settlers arrive in County Wicklow, accompanied by 300
soldiers from southern Wales.
1169
Invaders are repulsed by the Danes of Waterford.
1492
Christopher Columbus sails to the New World, William Eris (or Ayers), a
man from Galway, is reportedly amongst the crew. He is said to be one of
the forty volunteers left behind in Hispaniola and apparently killed by
Indians after Columbus' departure.
1550s
British Queen Mary encourages English setllements in Ireland.
1598
An Irish rebellion against the English began. Promised Spanish help did
not arrive until 1601, too late to help.
1600
The most determined resistance to reconquest came from the Gaelic
chieftains of Ulster (the northeastern quarter of the island), led by
Hugh O'Neill, 2d earl of Tyrone, at the end of Elizabeth's reign. In
suppressing their rebellion between 1595 and 1603, English forces
devastated the Ulster countryside. Once these chieftains had submitted,
however, King James I of England was willing to let them live on their
ancestral lands as English-style nobles, but not as petty kings within
the old Gaelic social system. Dissatisfied with their new roles, the
chieftains took ship to the Continent in 1607. This "flight of the
earls" gave the English crown a pretext to confiscate their vast lands
and sponsor scattered settlements of British Protestants throughout west
and central Ulster (the Ulster Plantation). The crown's actions
indirectly encouraged the much heavier unsponsored migration of Scots to
the coastal counties of Down and Antrim. Land was sold to Scottish
immigrants for six pence per acre. These settlements account for the
existence in present-day Ulster of numerous Protestants (many of them
Scottish Presbyterians) of all social classes. Elsewhere in modern
Ireland, Protestantism has been confined to a small propertied elite,
many of whose members were the beneficiaries of further confiscations a
generation after the Ulster Plantation.
1641
The pretext for these new confiscations was the rebellion of the Gaelic
Irish in Ulster against the British settlers in 1641. Indeed, this
rebellion triggered the English Civil War, which put an end to King
Charles I's attempt to create an absolutist state (represented in Ireland
by the policies of his lord deputy, Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of
Strafford).
1644
Daniel Gookin (1612-1687), son of an early Irish settler in Virginia,
moves to Massachusetts and eventually becomes a member of the Governor's
Council, major general of the militia, and superintendent of Indian
affairs.
1649
Oliver Cromwell quickly imposed English authority on Ireland. Cromwell
repaid his soldiers and investors in the war effort with land confiscated
largely from the Anglo-Irish Catholics of the Irish midlands who had
joined the rebellion hesitantly and only to defend themselves against
Puritan policies.
1652
A list of inhabitants of most of the southern part of County Dublin is
assembled.
1652
Thousands of Irish men and women were involuntarily "transported" as
laborers to the West Indies by Cromwell's forces. Many of these people
and their descendents later moved to the United States.
1654-1656
A civil survey is recorded of major landholders.
1659
A census was made of all major landowners.
1663-1666
Hearth money rolls registered for property owners.
1677
Charles McCarthy from Cork leads a party of 48 Irish immigrants in
founding a colony at East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
1678
About 100 Irish families sail from Barbados to Virginia and the
Carolinas.
1685-1705
Many French Huguenots seek asylum in Ireland.
1691
Treaty of Limerick penalizes public worship for Catholics and
Presbyterians.

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1700-1720
Ulster lands were confiscated from Irish owners and offered to British
and Scottish immigrants.
1702
Partial lists of male householders for Kilkenney enumerated separately by
religious denomination and parish.
1708
Registry of Deeds established.
1709
Over 6,500 Palatines leave war-torn German countries and settle in
Ireland.
1710
200 Palatine families leave Ireland for Britain.
1720
Noting that some 2,600 Irishmen had arrived in Boston during the past
three years, the governor of Massachusetts complained of the "public
burden" imposed by the coming of "so many poor people from abroad,
especially those that come from Ireland". The General Court of
Massachusetts warned immigrants from Ireland to leave the colony within
seven months.
1721-1742
Over 3,000 immigrants arrive in 21 years in the U.S. from Ulster alone.
1737
The Charitable Irish Society was formed on St. Patrick's Day in Boston by
26 Irish immigrants "to aid unfortunate countrymen, to cultivate a spirit
of unity and harmony among all Irishmen in Massachusetts colony and their
descendants, and to advance their interests socially and morally." This
is now the oldest Irish society in the U.S.
1740
Protestant householders in counties Antrim, Armagh, Donegal, Londonderry
and Tyrone are listed.
1749
A census of most of County Roscommon, part of County Sligo, and nine
parishes of County Galway is taken.
1750
Catholic inhabitants of County Tipperary were taxed.
1757
Military oaths of allegiance are registered.
1766
Rectors of the Church of Ireland record householders by parish,
indicating religion and other details. The only records still surviving
today are for North Cork and the counties of Limerick, Londonderry,
Louth, Tipperary and Wicklow.
1772-1777
A decline in the linen trade and exorbitant rents spurred a new wave of
emigration from the north of Ireland. Some 30,000 Ulstermen sailed for
America in a five-year span.
1776
Men of Irish birth or descent formed netween one-third to one-half of the
American Revolutionary forces, including 1,492 officers and 26 generals.
1790
The first census of the United States records 44,000 Irish-born
residents, more than half of whom lived south of Pennsylvania.
Historians consider this figure to be lower than reality.
1791
James Hoban, a native of Kilkenny, designs the White House, modelled upon
Leinster House in Dublin.
1798
A revolutionary uprising by the Society of United Irishmen was destroyed
by the British, many of the Society's members emigrate to the United
States.

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1801
The Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland abolished the Irish
legislature and created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1802-1803
A census of Protestant parishoners was made, records of 28 parishes still
survive.
1820-1830
50,000 Irish immigrants enter the United States.
1821
A general population census is taken (most of which was destroyed by fire
in 1922).
1824-1838
Tithe applotments (or tax lists) are compiled.
1829
The Emancipation Act lifts penalties for Catholics and Presbyterians.
1830-1840
237,000 Irish immigrants enter the United States.
1837
Vital registration begins.
1838
Poor Relief for Ireland enacted.
1840-1850
The Great Famine strikes, more than 1,000,000 Irish men and women
emigrate.
1840-1850
800,000 Irish immigrants enter the United States.
1846
All of Ireland is mapped for the first time, many county boundaries
finally defined.
1848-1864
A householder list is compiled of every householder and land
owner/renter.
1850
Tenant-Right League founded, it's goals were: fair rent, fixity of tenure
and free sale.
1851
Government census taken, most of which was destroyed in a fire in 1922.
1852
Tenement Act provides for a uniform evaluation of property for tax
purposes.
1858
Probate Act changes jurisdiction from the Church of Ireland to the
newly-established Court of Probate.
1861 & 1871
Censuses were taken and then destroyed by order of the government.
1868
Irish Reform Bill passes British Parliament, allows a million more men
the right to vote.
1869
Disestablishment Act deprives the Irish Church of property and authority.
1870
Irish Land Act provides protection for tenants.
1898
The administrative counties are formed.

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1901
A government census was taken, this one survives today.
1911
Second surviving census.
1916
Great Easter Rebellion suppressed by the British.
1917
Irish Republic adopts a constitution.
1921
Irish Free State becomes an independent member of the British
Commonwealth.
1922
Public Record Office and Four Courts fire destroys many irreplaceable
records.
1948
Republic of Ireland Act establishes a free country independent of
Britain.

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Irish Emigration

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These figures do not include Irishmen entering the United States from Great
Britain who were normally counted as "British", nor does it count those who
entered (legally or illegally) via Canada.
Year Immigration
---- -----------
1820 3,614
1821 1,518
1822 2,267
1823 1,908
1824 2,345
1825 4,826
1826 4,821
1827 9,772
1828 7,861
1829 9,995
1830 12,765
1831 13,598
1832 15,092
1833 14,177
1834 16,928
1835 13,307
1836 15,000
1837 22,089
1838 8,149
1839 20,790
1840 25,957
1841 36,428
1842 49,920
1843 23,597
1844 37,569
1845 50,207
1846 68,023
1847 118,120
1848 151,003
1849 180,189
1850 184,351
1851 219,232
1852 195,801
1853 156,970
1854 11,095
1855 57,164
1856 58,777
1857 66,080
1858 31,498
1859 41,180
1860 52,103
1861 28,209
1862 33,521
1863 94,477
1864 94,368
1865 82,085
1866 86,594
1867 79,571
1868 57,662
1869 66,467
1870 67,891
1871 65,591
1872 66,752
1873 75,536
1874 48,136
1875 31,433
1876 16,432
1877 13,991
1878 18,602
1879 30,058
1880 83,018
1881 67,339
1882 68,300
1883 82,849
1884 59,204
1885 50,657
1886 52,858
1887 69,084
1888 66,306
1889 60,502
1890 52,110
1891 53,438
1892 48,966
1893 42,122
1894 39,597
1895 52,027
1896 39,952
1897 32,822
1898 30,878
1899 38,631
1900 41,848
1901 35,535
1902 29,138
1903 35,310
1904 36,142
1905 52,945
1906 34,995
1907 34,530
1908 30,556
1909 25,033
1910 29,855
1911 29,112
1912 25,879
1913 27,876
1914 24,688
1915 14,185
1916 8,639
1917 5,406
1918 331
1919 474
1920 9,591
1921 28,435
1922 10,579
1923 15,740
1924 17,111
1925 26,650
1926 24,897
1927 28,545
1928 25,268
1929 19,921
1930 23,445
1931 7,305
1932 539
1933 338
1934 443
1935 454
1936 444
1937 531
1938 1,085
1939 1,189
1940 839
1941 272
1942 83
1943 165
1944 112
1945 427
1946 1,816
1947 2,574
1948 7,534
1949 8,678
1950 5,842
1951 3,144
1952 3,526
1953 4,304
1954 4,655
1955 5,222
1956 5,607
1957 8,227
1958 9,134
1959 6,595
1960 6,918
1961 5,738
1962 5,118
1963 5,000
1964 5,200
1965 5,463
1966 4,700
1967 1,901
1968 2,268
1969 1,989
1970 1,562
From 1971 through 1980 a total of 11,600 Irish immigrants arrived in the
U.S.

Counties of Irish Emigration

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Where did they come from? During the period 1856 through 1910, the
following ten counties in Ireland had the highest rate of emigration:
1. Kerry
2. Cork
3. Clare
4. Longford
5. Leitrim
6. Galway
7. Limerick
8. Mayo
9. Tipperary
10. Cavan
The county of Dublin has had the lowest rate of emigration.
The Irish constituted 42.3% of all immigrants from 1820 through 1850 and
35.2% of all immigrants between 1851 and 1860. Thereafter the percentage
delined continuously:
1861-1870 18.8%
1871-1880 15.5%
1881-1890 12.5%
1891-1900 10.6%
1971-1980 0.3%

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