Irish Family Names Part 2 | Anglo-Norman Influence on Irish Surnames (1/2)

[@BrehonAcademy]

THE BREHON ACADEMY Join bit.ly/brehonmembers Learn bit.ly/brehonacademy_courses Shop bit.ly/brehonstore Support bit.ly/brehonsupport

[@OutsideTheColony]

Great talk as always

[@Davlavi]

Informative thanks.

[@deecarroll2394]

Carroll family here.. Would love to find out more!!

[@philippurcell397]

Would really like to know about the Purcell’s

[@BrehonAcademy]

Purcell is derived from Puirséil (French "pourcel", little pig). This Anglo-Norman family is one of those which became completely hibernicized. They distinguished themselves in the wars of the seventeenth century and later as Wild Geese.

[@OssoryOverSeas]

Excellent.

[@glennmeade2390]

My great great grandfather was from mayo and his surname was meade

[@jessicawicker3582]

This is the best literary of Irish surnames ever!!! Thank you for reading this article.... I am a Wicker, and we actually were Croatan Native American Indian people, whom were taken in by 1, Stephen Anderson Wicker, who is said to have given us his last name....

[@artemis12061966]

Bless you for this!

[@jerrydwyer9057]

👍 thank you.

[@pobyrnesinger]

Love it, thanks.

[@jakebarrett6175]

I’m a paternal descendant of the Munster Barretts of Cork!

[@LeaMacleod]

My grandmother was an O'Neil. So much information. Makes my head spin. How does he do it?

[@BrehonAcademy]

Thanks, Lea!

[@ClassicStreetIron]

Do you have anything on the Fagan line in County Cork?

[@ebmindc1]

McMahon here. Thank you for clearing this up!

[@Sean-jc6cu]

I'm also a McMahon

[@jeplica7011]

Is Meehan an anglecized, spelling? Version of this name?

[@MrJRondo]

The one I cant find much on is ours, Mac Cionaoith.

[@kevinbermingham6072]

Interesting stuff. MacFeoris is now MacFheórais for us and, if im not mistaken, the surnames Corish and Pearse are offshoots.

[@_R.L]

Anything on the name Hogan?

[@BrehonAcademy]

(O) Hogan or Ó hÓgáin in Irish (from óg, young). Three clans are so called: one is Dalcassian and one of the Lower Ormond (sometimes regarded as the same); there is also one of the Corca Laoidhe.

[@daniellamcgee4251]

Maybe never the prefix 'Ó' after 1330s, however recorded in the records of the Coromcoe Abbey Battle of 1317, in the civil war between the two O'Brien brothers, the Ó Galvins are mentioned in honour, as participants in the battle. The Ó Galvins are listed as 'munitir of Ó Ghealblain' meaning something like 'the people of Ghealbhlan'. The Ó Ghealblains (and all the name's variants of spelling) were an original Sept of Clare, Munster. This means they were an established family for generations in Ireland. But the name is actually an Irish version of an Old French name, Galvin / Galvaign/ Galvagong/ Galvier, etc. Presumably the French Galvin family arrived in Ireland with the Anglo- Normans in 1169 with William de Clare, or 1171 with Henry II. So, by 1317 the Galvin family was integrated into the Irish community as the Ô Gleabian sept. So, that's an example of the prefix 'Ó' being used by Normans absorbed into Irish culture.

[@ReganRose3]

Im researching Reagan i was told they dropped the "O"

[@BrehonAcademy]

(O) Regan, Ó Riagain. Ó Réagain is used in Co. Waterford. There are three septs (clans) of this name. That shown as of Leix was in the early times one of the 'Tribes of Tara'. The eponymous ancestors of the Thomand sept were akin to Brian Boru. The third was akin to the MacCarthys.

[@ReganRose3]

@BrehonAcademy thank you

[@69Jackjones69]

I'm primarily Irish; I've got Mastersons, Sheas and Barrys in my family tree although my surname is Stephens just the Irish hero James Stephens. I suspect I'm an Irish/Norman hybrid as I look Irish. Got a big old spud head

[@daniellamcgee4251]

There weren't yet spuds in Ireland during the Medieval Norman invasion times. Potatoes arrived from Europe later. Also, to suggest that your head, looking like 'a big old spud', is a feature of looking Irish, is both inaccurate and socially inappropriate, especially on an Irish KZbin channel!

[@captainchaos3053]

Spuds were brought to Irelad by the British but I'm not sure why you might think lookin like one might denote anything other than your unlucky. I on the other hand am extremely lucky as I have proof I'm related to shurgar

[@yajsivad5682]

Brennan!😊

[@joykendrick6156]

My last name is Kendrick and my grandma was a Ragsdale.

[@cynthia5408]

What about Eliot or Kincannon?

[@BrehonAcademy]

"Though occassionally occuring in mediaevel records, for the most part this name came to Ireland at the time of the Plantation of Ulster. It has since been mainly, though by no means exclusively, associated with Co. Cavan and Fermanagh, but in the nineteenth century it was numerous in Co. Leitrim also. As an English name it is cognate with Ellis". from 'The Surnames of Ireland', Mac Lysaght. I couldn't find anything under Kincannon.

[@cynthia5408]

@@BrehonAcademy Thank you so much..

[@daniellamcgee4251]

The Eliots were one of the Rider families, or Border Reivers in Scotland, on the southern border between Scotland and England. The Eliots, along with other families, got up to a lot of mischief raiding each other's cattle etc., until they were basically forced out of Scotland with strict laws. In Ireland they were not accepted as Irish, and the violence between the Ulster-Scots and Irish became so barbaric that many Ulster-Scots left for the U.S.A. For more information: Border Reviers in general, but Wikipedia is actually a very good source of information. Also the Electric Scotland website: Border Reviers - Border Names: Eliot. I have Ulster-Scots ancestors who stuck together, in their clan, from Scotland, to Ireland, to Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Those families inter-married, became tamed Qakers and Methodists, and kept the family names in the family - including Eliot. 😉

[@glennmeade2390]

Read the book Steel bonnets by George Mcdonald fraser it's a great book about the subject of the border reivers

[@KO_5662]

O'Cearnaigh here

[@ChrisDowson-m5o]

I’m from the o rourke family

[@BrehonAcademy]

Then you may like to read this: brehonacademy.org/rivalry-of-the-orourkes-and-the-oreillys-for-the-kindom-of-breifne/

[@joykendrick6156]

McKendrick under McNaughton

[@Whitdauthaz]

RM269>L21>DF13>Z2534>A16>A14, anyone know anything about any Whitehead/Moore connections 14-1500's England? I know a fair amount but never enough.

[@annette4444]

O Brien & Mc Caffrey many. More here!

[@freshmanna4678]

Mac vs Mc correct?

[@BrehonAcademy]

both are correct

[@freshmanna4678]

@@BrehonAcademy I meant Mac is usually Scots Irish while Mc is more often Catholic Irish

[@Sean-jc6cu]

​@@freshmanna4678 Not necessarily

[@empressspace8110]

I'm learning about my family clan. Scottish and Ireland. Mason clan . Please can you do my clan please

[@tarapayne4945]

I’m from the McCleary Clan!

[@BrehonAcademy]

One of my branches is also Cleary.

[@BrehonAcademy]

"Ó Cléireach: One of the earliest hereditary surnames. Originaly of Kilmacduagh (Co. Galway) the sept was dispersed and after the thirteenth century settled in several parts of the country; the most important branch were in Donegal where they became notable as poets and antiquaries. In modern times the name is found mainly in Munster and Dublin." MacLysaght. Based on what John O'Donovan is saying, MAC Cleary is presumably an offshoot of this original sept.

[@tarapayne4945]

@@BrehonAcademy So appreciate the information. Someone had told me we came from a line of clerics / and possibly a priestly union? 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m going to visit Ireland soon- I cannot wait to learn more about my roots! Also more on the Tuatha De Dannon peep’s and maybe some more info on Finnegan Mc Cool and Co.😁 I am so proud of my heritage and to get a chance to know more about my kinfolk and Past!🌈🍀🌈🍀🌈 🤙🏼Aloha and Gratitude 🙏 for your input.

[@vovachammonet5771]

recent studies have shown that everyone at least in the greater Northwest of Europe have very similar DNA - There are to many variables/possibilities to count as to "surnames' ascribed to certain people are the way they are -i.e. - Long standing Irish families with english, norman, norse, welsh, names - on the flipside you have settlers into Ireland with irish names - You have Scottish names n Irish names that are exactly the same - does that mean that etymologically they are which? Irish with Scottish names n Scottish with Irish names or who have changed their names by a jot n a tittle - on n on n on we go....

[@sandyinmids]

Haley?

[@BrehonAcademy]

Possibly derived from Mac Hale, Irish: Mac Céile. Mac Firbis says this derives from one Cele Ó Maolfaghmair whose family were co-arbs of Killala (céile means companion).

[@BantiarnaMacRaghnaill]

1 Grandmother a Snodgrass (i know, i know), the other a Fitzgerald

[@It.Starts.With.You.]

I've been told I have Irish DNA. I'm American with the last name brown. can anyone help me?

[@daniellamcgee4251]

Start by asking your family members all you can and draw up a family tree. Very much include women in the family! Brown is an English name, not Irish, so to find any Irish you would need to follow women's maiden names. You could do a 1 month free trial of Ancestry. After that you can cancel, but still have access to your family tree to work on. Ancestry keeps providing 'hints'. You can't open the records up, or look at other members' family trees, unless you have membership. However, Ancestry continues to offer 'hints' to provide you with bits of new information to potentially build on. Add that information to your family tree, if you think it's accurate, and Ancestry will give you more hints, and so on. It's designed for people who can't wait to open records, so that they will immediately buy Membership to open them! But you can build your tree substantially with hints, and internet searches of names, Find-a-Grave, Church records, free Birth, Deaths and Marriage records, and other free records. Some of the resources on Ancestry are free to access publicly, anyway. You can do limited free trials of census records, and military records. Family name websites can be useful. People on Ancestry also generously share photographs and sources, such as books etc. that I have looked up to gain more information. (I also return the favour and post information publicly for others. 😁). You can also message people, or they can message you, on Ancestry, to further give and receive information. It really depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it. But the biggest waves of emigration out of Ireland were the Ulster-Scots to the U.S.A in the 1700s, and to the U.S.A., Britain,and many parts of the world, around the time The Great Famine (The Irish Potato Famine) in 1845 - 1852, but many left Ireland earlier in the 1800s. So, you may not necessarily have to go back too far in time to find one, or more, Irish family names. I have found that although free public genealogy websites can be useful, information can be missing, or there are errors. I have compiled a massive family tree with nearly 2000 people, and only paid for 6 months Ancestry membership to check records. I am due for another 6 months membership, though! For surname origins, the most reliable site, by far, is Surname Database. Time, and time again, I have found the information matches the original sources, and have yet to find an error. I have a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names.... and Surname Database aligns with that information. (Avoid House of Names! They are more concerned with selling merchandise than accuracy!). I hope this is helpful! 🙂

[@brettamcguire292]

My last name is McGuire

[@artemis12061966]

Orsini = Orsus/Orsso? Very powerful family...Venecians = Phoenicians...

[@danblair1591]

My friend is a McFarlane. Wales isn’t England as much as my hen daid’s country was conquered by Great Britian in the 13th century. Which was dissatisfied being annexed prior to King Henry VII in the late 15th century when a Welsh man took the throne as King Henry VII of Tudor. Welsh had declined in my hen daid’s lifetime. If he live to 103 he would have seen Welsh increase after its long decline from discrimination and torture if spoken welsh instead of English. Welsh didn’t increase until 2001. My hen daid hated being referred as Celtic as Welsh is not a Gaelic language like Scottish or Irish. I have some McDonald’s/Mac surnames or Acoreiah and Irish origin as well as son names that are ulster Scot(Scorch Irish) . Also English surnames that are anhlicized from Welsh Scottish and Irish. Plus Irish took English surnames because of work discrimination.

[@jkkennedy9280]

aren't the Irish coat of arms fake or rather more of a modern thing? Idk if it's a marketing ploy to sell gimmicky mugs and badges or what but pretty sure Irish clans (not anglo-irish) never used coat of arms

[@BrehonAcademy]

There's a line of thinking that says the heraldry originated in Ireland and there are countless mentions of standards, banners, and flags of ancient clans that predate the Normans, but you're right that there is a lot imported at a later date. For example, "arms" were originally reserved for knights so they could be distinguished on the battlefield, so every family would not have or need one. Also, technically speaking, arms are for an individual not a clan, though the Irish heraldry was much more clan centric.

[@jkkennedy9280]

@@BrehonAcademy Interesting, was always under the impression it was reserved for norman families like the Fitzgeralds, i remember seeing their heraldry in maynooth castle. Do you know of any mention of heraldry for Irish clans that isnt modern?

[@BrehonAcademy]

@jkkennedy9280 check out the O'Cleary and O'Malley heraldry. Also, recall a time when most were illiterate. You wouldn't be marking graves with names but with images.

[@BrehonAcademy]

Also, please check out my video "Gaelic Clans and Their Battle Cries" for an insight into another clan designator, the "sluaighairm", or where we get the modern English word "slogan".

[@jkkennedy9280]

@@BrehonAcademy yea I’ve seen that video was really interesting, found out my clan was cinneide abú, really cool