What Do the Names of Ireland's 32 Counties Mean?

[@kitten6062]

Thanks for this, I'm Irish and didn't know the translation of most of the 32 counties. This is the type of stuff that should be taught in school, so interesting 😊

[@interestingeire]

Glad it was helpful!

[@brigitnunez6735]

Great but it was taught at School but always great to have a reminder had forgotten most.

[@Korhh]

maybe at your school@@brigitnunez6735

[@happyplace00]

you know it dude

[@aaronmurtagh1017]

​@@brigitnunez6735ybbvbvlbhhvbvvbvpbvbvvvvvvvv

[@josipmrkonic2175]

Would like to see more for sure. I can see that Tolkien took a lot of inspiration from Irish language and I can see why,it is just mesmerising. It have affected me ex pat Croatian aswell. Love Ireland

[@interestingeire]

I've been meaning to do a video on this. Tolkien especially took inspiration for Lord of the Rings from the Burren in Clare. There is a cave called Pol na Gollum (Hole of Gollum).

[@siogbeagbideach]

Poll na gColm pigeon hole/ pool

[@markbrennan212]

Same with the Witcher books, mainly takes from Welsh for Elvish languages but there are plenty of similarities to Irish in there too along with the Skellige isles

[@seanhyland9131]

U forgot galway

[@pesimusdux]

Pozdrav zemljače 😊

[@shedboi]

Love how much history we have on such a small island. I'd love to see a series breaking down the time of the various invasions.

[@TheMawlaman]

I love to pass on how amazing the people and places of Ireland are to my daughter. You capture and convey it well. Please continue to enlighten us.

[@paddy2875]

Just to note with Carlow. Ceatharlach is considered to be derived from the old Irish place name Ceatharlach, meaning 'four lakes' or 'city on the lakes'

[@dylan982]

Ceithre loch makes sense, but I’ve also heard that Wicklow and Carlow come from the same Viking word, uicearlow or something like that

[@interestingeire]

I've seen both for the county, I think it means the ‘place of cattle (or) herds’. Check out this article www.logainm.ie/en/100004 'The underlying word, spelled cethir in Old Irish, means a four-footed animal and is of the same origin as the numeral ceathair “four”. The suffix -lach conveys the meaning ‘place of’ rather than ‘lake’.

[@Darbykirwan]

@@interestingeireit means four lakes even though there’s only one left. It says it further down in that article aswell

[@seanrathmakedisciples1508]

@@interestingeire Bothar is the Gaelic for roads which comes from cow track

[@seanrathmakedisciples1508]

Bo is Gaelic for cow

[@martinconnor9840]

I really enjoyed this. I'm Scottish, my Dad's family were from Offaly (Edenderry) and I married a Donegal girl (Ballyshannon.) I love the country and it was nice to learn about all of the place names. I've been to them all except Co.Kerry. Lucky Kerry. Very interesting video.

[@johnoshea4683]

kerry is called after ciar .who was a son of the king of ulster. settled in the northern part of the county around 100 ad.,that is from the river maine to the shannon.

[@osasunaitor]

Kerry is insanely beautiful. I'm not Irish but I recently visited the island and Kerry was my favourite part. I strongly recommend you visit

[@komodosp]

Also funny I always thought Louth was an Lú because it was the smallest county! But being named after Lugh makes more sense. (I think a teacher even pointed it out, but she may have just been pointing out the coincidence rather than attaching meaning)

[@paragonlink4352]

Fantastic video. Very educational. It's so important we keep our history alive and videos like this help do just that. I've also learned new information about my home county of Carlow thanks to your video and helpful comment and link you provided to another viewer.

[@interestingeire]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@carolynsharpe5871]

We are having our daughter memorize the 32 counties of Ireland this year in our homeschool, so I’ll definitely use this with her!

[@interestingeire]

Ah I remember doing that in school, glad this video will help ☺️

[@karlbyrne6021]

The occupied county's is fat dad. Fermanagh antrim Tyrone derry armagh down.

[@charles5553]

​@@interestingeireI had to do them in Irish and English 😌

[@brigitnunez6735]

Very interesting I am from Kilkenny myself.. Thanks for sharing this video.

[@MyViewsOfTheWorld]

Thank you. This helped me a lot in my research on the kingdoms of Ireland. I have been making videos on Irish landmarks and there is no way to show them without going into the amazing history behind each one. All that history is interconnected and each day I learn a tiny bit more of the very rich history Ireland has had for the last 10000 years.

[@Dianatroda]

Great video, would like to see more about the history of each county!

[@interestingeire]

Thanks glad you enjoyed it, and great idea for video such a rich history for each county.

[@robertmalone173]

Me too! I studied early Irish history in university but have forgotten most of it. It blew my mind the first time I saw all the small kingdoms of the 10th century.

[@simonmultiverse6349]

The names of the 32 counties mean variations on "This land belongs to Great Britain."

[@James_H90]

A series on Irish mythology would be good, lots a great stories linked to towns and county’s

[@Mark-0O]

An interesting fact is that the whole of county Derry and Inishowen was also in the kingdom of Tyrone in various stages of history. The original "Cenal Eoghain" was Inishowen and North county Derry. Another story I read was that Offaly is named after the kingdom of Uibh Fhaili but only a small region of the county was actually in that kingdom. The neighbouring counties were in that kingdom. Then there is Meath, it gets its name from the old kingdom but that was much larger than the county of Meath.

[@gi7kmc]

Technically there has never been a County Derry. It was created with the name County Londonderry. It was created at the same time the city of Derry was renamed to Londonderry. Most of the county was originally called County Coleraine and bits were taken from other counties to make County Londonderry (personally I don't have a strong view on the name to use)

[@KengCo7]

Yeah the Uí Failghe tuath was only partly in Offaly over beside Edenderry. Most of it was in Kildare. By contrast, all of South Offaly, and most of the Shannon Shore of Offaly was all in the tuath of Éile Uí Cearbhaill (Ely O'Carroll). The very North of Tipperary was Éile Uí Fhógartaigh (Ely O'Fogarty), ruled by a distantly related group. Both named after their ruling families. Honestly I'd prefer if South and West Offaly seceeded and founded our own County called Éile/Ely. And if North Tipp wants to join us I'd be all for it. We in the South of the County have nothing in common with those in the North East. They're mostly Dubs that got priced out and still commute back into the City.

[@eamonnmccabe1026]

​@gi7kmc there is no need to call it anything other than Derry. You're right about the history with County Coleraine, but there's no reason to add London to derry. Everyone from derry just says derry

[@thewildgoose7467]

Although I was already aware of some of these it was great to see them all put together in an excellent and concise video.

[@jamesabernethy7896]

This just came up for me. Not Irish but try to watch random but interesting things, very interesting. I did watch a video about a year ago about language, it covered a lot of Irish surnames which had a lot of Scandinavian roots. Glad I watched this.

[@interestingeire]

Thanks lad glad you enjoyed it

[@geraldinemoran7881]

Many thanks for this valuable information- great video !

[@fergal2424]

The artwork used to illustrate the counties is great. Midjourney yes? Did you generate them yourself? They'd be lovely to see larger somewhere! Excellent video also. Kerry man myself!

[@interestingeire]

Cheers man, yeah I made the illustrations using Midjourney, I'll look into a way to share them in high res 👍

[@jame5j]

Was about to ask the same thing. The landscapes were class. Reminded me of Japanese woodblock or lino prints.

[@mikeg.8167]

Agreed... good short video nicely "rendered". Like a good appetiser before a meal out... gives you the "taste buds" to want more.

[@jasonmoloney5796]

Solid video thank you

[@interestingeire]

Cheers lad

[@DerekTJ]

Excellent video - thanks! An idea might be about common Irishman surnames and how they were anglicised?

[@interestingeire]

Great suggestion!

[@MrTomasgleeson]

Very interesting, well done.

[@shaunakelly5831]

Excellent Video. Would love to see a video of the deities of each area. 💚

[@interestingeire]

Thanks and great suggestion, I'll look into that.

[@Kian2002]

Unsurprising how homophonic the Irish pronunciation sounds to our Welsh place names; very interesting especially when compared to our own Viking influence, like, Milfordhaven (Mile Fjord Haven), Haverfordwest (Haven Fjord in the West) & Fishguard (Fish enclosure). The Vikings didn`t settle much in the area controlled by the descendants of the Silurians, Swansea (Swain`s fortress) being at the very western edge of their traditional territory, so the names are mainly Welsh east of the Neath river except where they are industrial era new-builds and have been anglicised for commercial reasons - Bombay instead of Mumbai; Peking instead of Beijing etc.

[@dogstar8027]

Very interesting and informative video and beautiful images of the country. Thank you for your efforts and creativity.❤

[@interestingeire]

Thanks for the lovely feedback

[@flaminx0r]

I would love to read a book on all this 😊 - thanks for sharing!

[@RingoLombardi]

Love the AI artwork.. master of the image prompt

[@interestingeire]

😁

[@Rana-Kethla]

As a Swede (so a tiny bit Viking) living now for 16 years in this beautiful country, I learned a lot I did not know from this. One thing I did know, is I chose the right county to live in. Among the green plains and yew trees. ^^

[@avgriffin]

West man here, great video, god bless you for making this informative content!! Interesting Eire Abú!! I wanna ask you if I could sample this video for a house/hip-hop remix, with credit non0profit (I wish ahha we'd both make grade then ahahhah) cheers great craic Ní ceart go cuir le Chéile Slán abhaile x

[@interestingeire]

Sure lad fire away, share it with me when you are done 🙏

[@pongop]

This is amazing and helpful! Go raibh maith agat!

[@interestingeire]

GRMA

[@63mckenzie]

Very interesting. My great grandmother was from Birr in Co Offaly.

[@michaelfoley9904]

Exellent video, many thanks 👏👏👏👏👏

[@interestingeire]

Thanks 😊

[@juanpierrebosch]

For a "blowin" living in Galway, I loved this info. Can you make a video on Brehon Law ( what it stands for) and the families trees of that times having an impact on this. I do understand it connects with the Ubuntu way of life of the acien South African ways. I understand Brehon Law was looked up to as an example across the world and well respected in the old world of fine balance between the people and land. Thank you, I am looking forward to more of your work since I just found you ❤

[@andymcphee6923]

Fascinating stuff. Thank you for sharing

[@interestingeire]

thanks

[@jassonsw]

Lovely video. How about another on the history of common Irish names?

[@interestingeire]

That's a great idea thanks

[@seamusphelan228]

Do you mean the rough ones 😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣☘️🇮🇪

[@AndrewBoland-ju4ls]

That was really interesting, really enjoyed this video

[@malsmith1618]

I learn something new every day great video thanks for the upload

[@interestingeire]

Glad to hear it, thanks

[@criostoir.]

This is class, please keep these videos up 🙌 also, I knew there was a reason I once called a Cork woman a Swamp Donkey 🤷‍♂️😅

[@glennmeade2390]

I take it you didn't score that neet😂

[@A190xx]

At 0.09, invasion was from the British not solely the English with many Scots moving to Northern Ireland.

[@brianmacgabhann5630]

I've always found Irish place names fascinating, and wondered about the story behind them, such as "Aill na Cloigeann"; Skull Cliff, or "Gort na Folla"; the Field of Blood. But my favourite is a small townland near where I used to live in Connemara; Seannadh Pheistín; which means "The Congress of Little Worms". Where'd that come from?

[@cacamilis8477]

My favorite place name might be the village of Kilnaboy in county Clare, or Cill Iníone Bhaoithe (Church of the Crazy Daughters). It might reference an early Christian Church (that's still there, including a carved image of Síle ní Gigh, with her vagina spread wide). After More papal influence the Gaelic church banned women from owning property except for if they were nuns, so Kilnaboy may be a reminder of one of the last women who built a church to hold fast to their independence.

[@brianmacgabhann5630]

@@cooldaddy2877 Ah thank you! I knew there were little worms involved somewhere!

[@johnsweeney1712]

Great video, very interesting and educational. Thank you.

[@interestingeire]

Cheers

[@gerardduffy4004]

Great, most I knew but others were a surprise... great artwork, who created them

[@belfastbornstephen]

Excellent work I really appreciate it, thank you

[@interestingeire]

Thanks

[@catstevensfake]

Brilliant video!

[@mrseaweed1000]

Born and raised here, yet most of this was brand new information to me. Wonderfully interesting!

[@happyplace00]

great vid man

[@interestingeire]

Cheers man

[@MrSimonmcc]

McCarthy, from County Cork in the Kingdom of Munster.

[@Mountain-Mac]

This is fantastic! Great work! Éirinn go Brách

[@tmcg5471]

The name 'Wicklow' was overlooked in this clip. Ireland's youngest county (1606) is named after its county town, Wicklow which was named by Danish Vikings that settled on the existing Irish settlement of Inbhearr Dí (Inverdee) / Kilmantin (Cill Mhantáin) in the 10th century. They named it 'Vyknigelo' / meadow of the Viking which, in time became Wicklow.

[@COUNTYGAINS]

Love this video jsut did a reaction to it!! really informative!! living in galway my whole life didnt know it ment shtony!! hahah

[@interestingeire]

Glad you liked the vid, can you link my channel and video in the description of your reaction? Sound

[@COUNTYGAINS]

OH YEAH!! i got you!! of course great video man appericate it!!@@interestingeire

[@wildatlanticman128]

Love it

[@Brendanvio]

What a terrific vid. I’m always interested to learn more about the country of my ancestry.

[@interestingeire]

Glad I could help

[@hughoneill9833]

Good content man, well done. Hugh of the Ui Neill

[@RoyBattyLives]

Thanks for putting this up. I was chatting only yesterday about the etymology of Kilkenny and I thought Kill was from Coill or wood, I hadn’t realised it was a church. I’d love to know the pre-Christian names.

[@paulmcgrath6118]

A lot of people say Killarney means the church of the sloes , but forest of the sloes makes more sense . I think “kill” could mean forest or church

[@pashakdescilly7517]

@@paulmcgrath6118 I'm not Irish, but I understand that it refers to a settlement having formed around or at the location of a monk's cell or habitation

[@ossiemac]

You should have more subs! Loved this, clear speaking explanation. Thank you. Subbed 👍

[@interestingeire]

Thanks for the sub

[@aerodaan]

I have lived for 17 years now on this emerald isle. Very interesting video here.

[@interestingeire]

Glad you enjoyed it 😁

[@bluecurlygirl]

Great stuff. Very interesting. I've lived in Cavan for most of my half century on this earth and did not know the meaning of it's name. Thanks for this.

[@irishdancer2753]

Great, loved your video!

[@equilight]

Nicely done and interesting as well. Keep up the good work 👍

[@interestingeire]

Cheers

[@595EuroPerEye]

I believe the foreigners referred to in donegal were the gallowglass from scotland not the vikings. I could be wrong but all the gallowglass were based in donegal.

[@KawaiiGames]

Great video! 👌

[@johnfarrell9484]

Excellently presented

[@interestingeire]

Cheers

[@frankwessels4639]

This information has been absorbed. It will now be stored somewhere deep in the realms of my mind, so that if the day comes, I can talk to a local and get 50% of the facts right, which is enough to be invited for a beer or some food.

[@interestingeire]

Haha, this channel is mostly pub facts

[@Technae]

god i love dwarf fortress, i live in ireland and you made the island sound much more interesting

[@glennmeade2390]

Like Erebor?

[@nirfz]

Well, what a coincidence, i recently read a wiki article about Laval Graf Nugent von Westmeath which was an officer of irish origin in the army of the austrian empire. And unfamiliar with irish counties (apart from the more famous ones) i hadn't heard of Westmeath before, now thanks to the video i have some geographical idea of where that is and why it's named that way.

[@robertmccormack1208]

hello from westmeath!

[@nirfz]

@@robertmccormack1208 Hello back, (from austria.)

[@tonedeafmagonigle3513]

As a Cork man I hoped for something more glamorous than a boggy marsh, great video tho.

[@macker33]

Great video, love the pictures.

[@interestingeire]

Glad you like them!

[@ilovemydog6847]

This is a fantastic video extremely well put together and presented. The content is very interesting and informative and the beautiful pictures and music gave it a lovely depth and dynamic. Very educational and entertaining. Thank you.☺ 👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍☺

[@interestingeire]

Thanks a million 😊

[@demopalestino1285]

fantastic video. thanks very much. ❤❤❤

[@interestingeire]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@darrencarney7380]

Excellent video lad. Loved it. Defo subscribing to the channel.

[@interestingeire]

Cheer lad thanks for the sub

[@galvo_galvo]

Nice work :)

[@interestingeire]

Thanks 😁

[@irishravr632]

Very enjoyable, you have a new subscriber.

[@ninjacell2999]

interestingly, you can see the "dún" in Down in places in Scotland like Edinburgh (Dún Edin) and Dundee

[@MZophiel]

The Scotti were a celtic tribe that came to Scotland from Ireland. Their language and culture is deeply related to Irish.

[@x_hibernia]

Wow that was class any chance you could do all town's in Ireland, I know the meaning of the town I live in, listowel or lis tu hil meaning hillfort by a river and only two existing in the world one here in Ireland and another in Canada

[@interestingeire]

Thanks I'll look into doing it in towns around ireland

[@seancaseo84]

I read an Article recently that said that Limerick, was Luimneach or Leim na Manach, or Horses leap, referring to a shallows in the river where people could cross. I think it was in the limerick post newspaper

[@interestingeire]

Really cool thanks for sharing, very similar to Dublin then

[@timreardon3629]

Once read that Limerick came from Norse word Lime -Rick meaning rich or fertile land

[@katherinemarek9741]

Loved these explanations! Thank you!

[@interestingeire]

Glad you liked it 😊

[@seanrathmakedisciples1508]

I love your video. Keep your videos coming I’ve subscribed. It’s very interesting your interpretations of the names of the counties.

[@interestingeire]

Thank you! Will do!

[@seanrathmakedisciples1508]

@@interestingeire I’m down from Wexford in the sunny south east

[@paulseoighemcgee5772]

Dia duit , a fhear uasal . Just thought I'd throw in a little of what I have researched , le meas , just that Gaillimh might also mean Stony River from the shortened gaill abhain and that Ceathar Loch may also mean Four Lakes . Great stuff . FYI , Lu shares the same root as London - Lugdinium - the name the Romans tacked onto it when they rocked up there in the first century .

[@glennmeade2390]

There is also a lughdunam in France or gaul I guess I should say

[@diarmaidupton]

Cool video. Limerick isn’t right as “Bare Spot” though. It’s Léim an Each, the Horses Leap, as the place horses would cross the Shannon river. St Thomas Island to be specific where they crossed. Each was the old Irish for horse, now it’s Capall.

[@interestingeire]

Thanks for the info!

[@gerryella]

I have lived in Ireland the majority of my life, I love this country❤ but I was no good at school & didn't appreciate the history of our country. I'm 42 now & I never even thought how we got the names of our counties. Thank u for this video video

[@finolaomurchu8217]

You probably have a touch of dyslexia, it just makes reading harder. Listening to history videos is ideal.

[@interestingeire]

Thank you lovely comment

[@wonderworld4056]

Thankyou, great education of the counties

[@Alan13Mac]

Brilliant, I’m going to my Irish class this evening ulster Irish

[@Halbared]

Great video, most interesting. I'm visiting Cork next month, looking forward to it.

[@interestingeire]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@chuckyx934]

County Tipperary was actually named after Tipperary town, which obviously got its name from the explanation from the video. This was very interesting video and great short but clear, detailed explanations.

[@cryocrusader2594]

Being from Fermanagh, this video makes me think we should trade names with Cork now, though Men of the Lakes makes sense too. It's so wet. You can tell when you're passing into Donegal or any of the neighbouring counties without actually having to be aware of geographical location by how immediately less grey, more sunny and dry it gets, like loading into a new biome in a video game or something.

[@Pedro.Chapps]

wow fantastic video i love seeing videos about our history, thanks for all teh effort put into this one 👌

[@interestingeire]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@stevethomas5849]

Fascinating Insight to amazing history

[@squid9882]

Leitrim being a grey ridge is just perfection

[@mrwelshmun]

Ddiddorol iawn! Very interesting. I'm seeing definite similarities to Welsh place names.

[@interestingeire]

🤝

[@theplatitudefromouterspace1686]

As someone born and reared in the bare spot, I'll shared this around, cheers kiiiiiiiiid.

[@interestingeire]

That's Limerick citayyy 😆

[@johnmorrow7080]

My gran's family were Irish she was born in Gateshead UK all the rest were born in Ireland .

[@siobhancollins1663]

Excellent- very informative 🎉🎉

[@alano2001]

Wicklow and Arklow are Norse. Not the Irish versions. Wicklow most likely Vykyngelo meaning meadow of the Vikings. Arklow is derived from the Norse personal name Arnkell and the Viking word for a marshy area 'lo'.

[@barra6709]

I'm an Arklow man 👍

[@carmelmhennessy9738]

Wonderful video

[@tziirkq]

Very good video, very very good. I appreciated all the different versions of the names. If you haven't done it already (This is the first video of yours I have seen), a video explaining common town names nd their relation to Irish words would be great. One example is cnoc towns and villages. It's a good way I've found to help people learn Irish. Great job!

[@interestingeire]

Thanks, and great suggestion I'll have to do a video on that in the future

[@stevenoliver3747]

Would love to see a breakdown of all the Irish places that begin with Clon e.g., Clonakilty, Clontarf, Cloncurry etc. I believe Clon is a prefix meaning place, so the remainder of the name describes it. Cloncurry apparently means dry place but I'm obviously not Irish let alone an Irish historian or linguist so your insight would be deeply appreciated. Though dry place would be extremely suitable seeing that my hometown in Northwest Queensland, Australia is called Cloncurry. It's hot, dry and I've been there when temperatures have reached 49 degrees Celsius almost daily. I's said to have been named after Lady Cloncurry of Galway County who was cousin to an explorer. Hopefully one day I'll get to step foot in Cloncurry, Ireland when I eventually return for my third visit. I miss your beautiful country and especially my Irish loved ones and I've yet to explore the West/Northwest parts and can't wait until I do.

[@pashakdescilly7517]

Surely you jest - there's nowhere dry in Ireland

[@seanrathmakedisciples1508]

Clone or cluan stands for meadow. Clonmel meadow of honey Clontarf means the meadow of bulls Cloncurry is Curry’s meadow. etc

[@anncarroll2204]

Very interesting thanks

[@robbie4084]

Brilliant video, thank you

[@JJamesMc90]

I could be wrong but, was Galway not named for the river goddess Gaillimh? I never knew the proper translation, so that explanation made alot of sense to me growing up

[@interestingeire]

Thanks for sharing, there is a connection to her alright 🙂

[@StatSoisialach]

An exquisite video indeed.

[@terencescully284]

Now I know about then place I come from.. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we at least gave the counties their original names? Thank you.