They Came From County Armagh

IRISH NAMES

O'Brien, Michael. "Changes in Irish Names". Journal of the American Irish Historical Society, 1911. Vol X. New York: American Irish Historical Society , 1911

CHANGES IN IRISH NAMES.

     There is nothing very strange about changes in Anglo-American names. In Colonial times nearly all names were written down phonetically. In an English name a letter might be dropped or inserted, but as a rule the name remained substantially the same as the original, the sound having been preserved.
     Much more extraordinary transformations took place in the old Celtic names. To such an extent have some of those names been changed that many Americans who are descended from Irish immigrants are led to believe that they are of English, Scotch or even of Dutch descent.
     For a number of years I have been searching the CoIonial records for traces of those Irish pioneers whose share in the laying of the foundations of the republic has been ignored or derided by some shallow commentators on American history. I have examined the lists of "original immigrants" brought hither by Lord Baltimore and William Penn; the Assembly Proceedings, Council Records, records of the land offices, registers of wills, court and church records, old newspapers, and many other sources of information that are available in the archives of the different states which comprise the original Thirteen Colonies.
     The study of Celtic patronymics and their shifting phraseology is a fertile field for investigation even in America, and if one has any knowledge at all of the language from which they are derived he will find it a topic of absorbing interest. I may say that though numerous Irish names are on the early records, they do not by any means indicate the full extent of the Celtic element which established itself principally in the Southern colonies before the close of the seventeenth century. Not alone were Irish names changed and assimilated to names of English origin after their owners came to America, but we know too that many of such names had already undergone considerable change in their original home. Hence it is that far more people of Celtic blood came to the colonies than is apparent from the number of Celtic names on the records.
     I find such name transformations as Clark from O’Clery, Somers from MacGauran, Whitcomb from MacKiernan, Smith from MacGowan, and so on. Indeed, the adopted names are but literal translations of the originals. For example, "O’CIery" comes from the Gaelic word meaning a "clerk" or "secretary," while "MacGauran" is derived from a Gaelic word signifying "summer."
     Other arbitrary changes which I find are Melville from O’Mulvihill, Morrow from MacMurrough, Lochren from O’Loughran, Kneill from O’Neill, Claflin from MacLaughlin, Caryl and Corol from O’Carroll, and Bryan from O’Brien. It may be of interest to state that William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska is descended from one William O'Brian, a soldier of King James’s army, who settled in Pasquotank county, North Carolina, in 1690. No doubt he was one of the "wild geese," as those who fled from Ireland after the fatal treaty of Limerick are known to history.
     The most common method of changing Irish names in America was by suppressing the Milesian prefixes "Mac" and "0’ " and sometimes by transposing the syllables of the name, by which means the original name entirely lost its distinctive character. I have even come across such a grossly ridiculous transposition as "Navillus." It can hardly be said that this silly attempt to disguise the name of Sullivan was very successful. In some cases the prefix "Mac," instead of being dropped, was translated and its equivalent "son" added to the name.
     Such pure Gaelic names as MacFergus thus became Ferguson, MacMorris, Morrison; MacNeill, Neilson; MacDonald, Donaldson, and so on. These people now think themselves Scotch. I find the name of Fitzgerald written down in the records as "Fittsjarrel," and on tracing their descendants find them enjoying the name of "Jarrel," in blissful ignorance of their descent from "the princely race of Geraldine." Even Fitzpatrick is down as "Fitchpartarack," and on dropping the affix I find the name, in at least one instance, became "Fitch." In the transcripts from the records of New York in the Astor Library may be seen such names as "Charty" for MacCarthy, "Guire" for MacGuire, "Keyse" for Casey, "Opherl" for O’Farrell, "Burrin" for O’Byrne, "Shansee" for O’Shaughnessy. On the rosters of the Army of the Revolution may be found such names as Doii, Magkartee, Kail, Reighley, Morphew, Dunniphant, Seylovan, Obriant, Ownailes, Driskil, Dehoitey, Flanikin,Melonnay, Makan, Megoune, Gollerhorn and many others, all of which are easily recognizable.
     In 1683 one Edward O’Dwyer founded an extensive settlement in Cecil county, Maryland, which he called "New Munster," and in records which I have examined in the Land Office at Annapolis I find his name written down as "Edward Dwyro." A wealthy Irish planter named Dennis O’Derre, who settled on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake in 1667, is written down as "Deer O’Dennis," and some of his descendants were known by the surname "Dennis," while the offspring of Bryan O’Mealy of Cecil county, one of the immigration agents of Lord Baltimore, called themselves, "Male."
     Numerous similar instances can be cited showing how on account of the changes which Irish names have suffered, and their conversion into English forms, Ireland has been deprived of much of the credit that is hers, and the influence of her sons in the making of American history has been lessened proportionately,-

(M. J. O’Brien, in the New. York Sun.)

IRISH AND SCOTCH SURNAMES.

BY BENEDICT FITZPATRICK.

    There is in America a prevalent impression in regard to Irish and Scotch surnames that the Mac is distinctively Scottish and the 0’ distinctively Irish, and that both Prefixes signify son. This is of course an error. In Gaelic, the national language of Ireland and Scotland since the dawn of their histories, Mac (incorrectly written MC and M’) signifies son, and 0’ signifies grandson or descendant. Thus "James, the son of John" is in Gaelic nomenclature, Shaemas MacShane, the English equivalent being James Johnson. The "grandson (or descendant) of John" would be O’Shane. In Ireland, "where," said Count Montalembert, "the influence of blood and the worship of genealogy still continue to a degree unknown in other lands," the 0’ (Gaelic form, Ua) has been used in the plural from a remote period to designate the descendants of famous ancestors; as, The O’Neils (Vi Neill), descendants in Meath and Ulster of Niall of the Nine Hostages, High Monarch of Erin, who died in 405; The O’Briens (Vi Briain) descendants in Connaught of his brother Brian. But the use of the singular 0’ as a hereditary and exclusive family name began generally only in the tenth century, at the instance, according to Keating and others, of Brian Boru, king of all Ireland, famous both as genealogist and warrior. The reign of Brian had an important bearing on the development of Irish pedigrees. Brian, among other notable acts, revised the genealogies of families and distributed them into houses, and regulated the precedence of the nobility.
    The Scotch paid little attention to pedigrees and few inherited the O’, though they used the Mac exactly after the manner of the Irish. The Scots indeed throughout all their history seem to have dwelt in the sense of a social inferiority in regard to Ireland. They looked to her with a deep emotion of reverence akin to that felt among the Saxons for the island of saints and scholars, which had given them Christianity and letters. But among the Scats there was of course that still warmer feeling natural to those who knew Ireland to be their ancient motherland and the home of their chiefs and ancestors. For the Scots themselves were Irish Gaels with but little tinge of alien blood. That fact is written so large on the page of Scottish history that he who runs may read.
    Authentic Scottish history is of course far less ancient than Irish history, but its dawn reveals the west of Scotland peopled by Irish Celts and the east by Picts. Who the Picts were cannot be determined with certainty and some historians have given them a Scandinavian origin. Nothing in the way of Pictish language or monument has come down to us; and that total absence of the traces of their existence would seem to leave them an ethnological puzzle. This lack of any distinctive record is however confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ that the Picts like the Scots went from Ireland, and that both peoples were of the same Gaelic race and spoke the same Gaelic tongue. The first prince of the Irish in the west of Scotland was Fergus, son of Eric (a friend of St. Patrick), who crossed over with an army from Ireland in 503. His great-grandson, Conell, was king of the Irish Scots, when St. Columba-who was an O’Donnell- began the conversion of the Picts. Columba at Iona never ceased to bewail his involuntary exile from Erin, the radiating centre of the then triumphant Gaelic world; and it is noteworthy that his intercourse with the Picts seems to have been attended with no lingual difficulties. The Irish Scots, increasing by immigration, continually extended their dominion and by the ninth century they had the whole country under rule. Near the middle of that century Kenneth, son of Alpine, lineal descendant of Fergus and Eric, succeeded his father as king of the Irish Scots, his sovereignty being acknowledged throughout the land in 846. The purely Irish monarchy founded by him remained such till 1058, when King Malcolm Canmore married a fugitive Saxon princess; but the sense of racial unity between the two peoples prevailed without cleavage till after the downfall of the Stuarts. There are of course strains of Scandinavian, Saxon and even Norman blood among the Scotch, but not so much as among the Irish, for Ireland with its wealth, and fame, and shining old civilization was a continual magnet to the foreigner. Thus it has come about that the language of the Scotch, their clan polity, their music, their plaids and kilts, their system of nomenclature, are in the main identical with those of Ireland. The Gaelic literature left undestroyed-voluminous, intrinsically valuable and of astonishing variety-is almost wholly Irish; for Scotland, unlike Ireland, had no medieval colleges or groups of scholars and contributed little beyond some traditional poetry.

Ireland, the Original Scotia.

    Were these facts not known some of them might be inferred. Thus Ireland was the original Scotland (Scotia), and the Irish the original Scats (Scoti), country and people being known to Roman and medieval Europe under those names. Scotland, serving for centuries as an Irish colony, was known as Lesser or New Scotland (Scotia Minor or Nova), the adjectives only being dropped about the 13th century, when Ireland had come into its present name. The Latin word for Irishman has always been Scotus, and that fact has allowed unscholarlike minds to claim medieval master intellects, such as Duns Scotus, Sedulius Scotus and Scotus Erigena, for the Scots. In Gaelic Scotch and Irish are known simply as Gaels of Albin and Gaels of Erin. "The Irish," declares Collins, "colonized Scotland, gave it a name, a literature and a language, gave it a hundred kings and gave it Christianity."
    This social and intelIectual dependence of the Scots on Ireland along with their lesser antiquity, explains the rarity among them of the aristocratic 0’ or Ua which was permitted to be borne only by those who could point back to ancestors of established fame. Scotch names in 0’ there are nevertheless. There are the O’Mays, the O’Drains, the O’Shannaigas belonging to the Donald clan. There are even the Mac O’Shannaigs, of the MacDonald clan of Kintyre. They are the oldest and best families in Scotland, tracing their descent to Irish kings. Clan names in the plural form of the 0’, go back to immemorial times but few genuine surnames became fixed before the reign of Brian Boru. In early times when the population of Ireland and Scotland was small and scattered, one name apart from the clan name, generally sufficed to designate an individual, and one name as a rule is all that we find. A man was known to his neighbor as Art, or Owen, or Columba or Diarmid, and as long as there was no one else of the same name in the locality nothing more was required to complete the identification. Among the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews and the other nations of antiquity the same custom prevailed. But with the growth of population, single names were no longer found sufficient, and the patronymic came into use. In ireland the patronymic was formed by prefixing Mac to the genitive case of the father’s name, or Ua (0’) to that of a grandfather. Such designations as Cormac mac Airt, Laogaire mac Neill, Ciaran mac an Saoir (the artificer), Diarmaid ua Duibhne, are not infrequently to be met with in the oldest Irish records. Then again some personal characteristic, the trade one followed, or the place where one was born or lived gave rise to a souhriquet which became attached to the name. Epithets denoting size, shape, peculiarities of complexion, as Eogan Mor (great), Shane Fionn (fair), Niall Ruadh (red), existed in endless variety and even now afford the country community an easy means of distinguishing between namesakes. "Big Tim’" and "Little Tim" Sullivan, as applied to a couple of distinguished New York legislators, are modern examples in English. These designations were however not surnames, being neither hereditary nor common to all the members of a family, some of them not being ancestral and all dying with the bearer himself.
    The old clan names were always in the plural and were the common possession of the whole tribe. O’Clery was probably a fixed surname as early as the beginning of the tenth century, for we find the death of Tigernac Ua Clerig, Lord of Aidhue, recorded in the annals at the year 916, and that of his brother, Flann Ua Clerig, Lord of South Connacht, who was slain by the men of Munster in 950. This would appear to be the earliest surname recorded in the annals. O’Canannain of Tirconnail is mentioned in 941 ; Donmaill Ua Neil], the first of the O’Neills of Ulster, in 943; O’Ruairc and O’Ciara (O’Keary) in 952; Mac Dongura (Magennes) in 956. O’Maoldoraidh, O’Dubda (O’Dowd), O’Ceallaigb (O’Kelly) of I.5 Maine and many others were firmly established as surnames before the end of the century.

The Immemorial ‘0.

The eleventh and twelfth centuries must however be assigned as the period within which the bulk of Irish surnames began to assume an hereditary character. The practice of forming names with Ua or 0’ had almost certainly ceased before the invasion of the Normans in 1171--quite possibly long before- and it is doubtful if there is a single O’-surname that does not go back beyond that date. Imagination staggers at the antiquity of some Irish names. Some of the surnames in 0’, once clan names, are indeed a thousand years older than the oldest in Europe, going back to pre-historic times. It must at the same time be admitted that while surnames in Ireland were probably universal, by the end of the 12th century, they were not at first of a lasting character, and in some instances were laid aside in favor of new surnames taken from less remote ancestors. Thus O’Roduib was replaced by MagEraghty; O’Malruanaidh, originally a branch of the O’Connors, by Mac Diarmada (MacDermott) ; O’Gearadhain by MacFionnbhairr (McGaynor). The MacBrady’s are said to have been originally O’Carrolls. Many of the great families, too, soon began to split up into septs, some of which took distinct surnames from the names of their founders. Thus the Mac Sweeneys are a branch of the O’Neills of Ulster; the MacMahons of Thomond, the MacConsidines, and the Lysaghts (Mac giolla Iasacta), of the O’Briens; the MacGoldricks, of the O’Rourkes; the MacAuliffes, of the MacCarthys; the MacGillycuddys, of the O’Sullivans; the MacEochys, or Keoghs, of Connacht, of the O’Kellys of Ui Maine; the MacDermotts and MacManuses of Connacht, of the O’Connors; the MacDonaghs of Co. Sligo, of the MacDermotts; the MacGilleykellys or Kilkellys, of the O’Clerys; the MacDunlevys, of the O’Heochys of Ulidia; the MacGilhooleys, of the O’Mulveys; the MacSheedys and MacClancys of Thomond, of the MacNamaras; the MacCloskeys and MacAvenues, of the O’Kanes; the MacDevitts and MacConnellogues, of the O’Dohertys; the MacCaffreys, MacAwleys, and the MacManuses of Fermanagh, of the Maguires; and so on.
All Irish surnames are, strictly speaking, of patronymic origin, that is, formed from the names or designations of ancestors by prefixing Mac or 0’. But many Mac and 0’ surnames are of foreign origin. The Danish and Norse families who settled in Ireland adopted surnames after the Irish fashion, by prefixing Mac or 0’ to the genitive case of the names or designations of their ancestors; and the surnames so formed are in no way distinguishable from native surnames. It is not at the same time an improbable conjecture that O’Dubgaill (O’Doyle), O’Harrold, O’Toner, O’Hanrick, O’Hiur, or O’Howard, MacCotter and some few others represent Danish families, The MacDugalds of Scotland on the other hand are Gaels, and of the same stock as the MacDonalds. So are the MacSorleys from the Norse somairle-summer sailor; and, as we have seen, the MacAuliffcs and MacAwleys or Macauleys, the MacManuses and MacCaffreys arc branches of some of the chief Irish families. Evidently Danish and Norse names were at one time freely borrowed ‘by Irish families. O’Segrue comes from another famous Danish name, but the family so-called is said to be a branch of the O’Sullivans.

Norman Surnames.

    The surnames borne by the Anglo-Norman invaders, as they are found in the oldest Anglo-Irish records, may be divided into four classes.---a. patronymic with fitz (Latin filius, French fils) as Maurice fitz Gerald, Meiler fitz Henry, Adam fitz Simon; or the ancestor’s name, appearing in unaltered form, without any prefix, as: John Jordan, Robert Wallerond; b. local with de as: Richard de Burgo, William de Barri, Ralf de Mora (Moore), William de Freynes, Hugh de Crues (Cruise), David de Cauntetoun (Condon); c. official with le, as: Thomas le Clerc, Philip le Harpur, Theobold le Butiler; d. descriptive with le, as: Richard le Blake, Oliver le Gras (Grace), John le Fort (Ford), Kys le Walcys (Walsh).
    At the period of the invasion surnames were far less fixed in England, and still less in Scotland, than in Ireland, and many of the first settlers took surnames on Irish soil, generally, after the Norman fashion, from the places where they settled. All these Norman surnames in course of time took Irish forms. Patronymics with fitz prefixed, like fitz Gcraltl, became Mac Gerailt, etc. The rest were hibernicised according to one general rule: they were pronounced in Irish, due allowance being made for the difference in language, just as they were pronounced in English. Many of the Anglo-Norman settlers took surnames after the Irish fashion by prefixing Mac to the Christian names of their ancestors. Thus the Stauntons took the surname of Mac an Mileada (now MacEvilly) from an ancestor Milo de Staunton. The de Exeters took the surname of Mac Siurtain, from Jordan de Exeter, the founder of the family. Like the great Irish families some of the Anglo-Irish families split up into septs which adopted distinct surnames of their own. The MacDavids, for instance, the MacPhilbins, the MacKeoneens or Jennings, the MacGibbons, or Gibbons, the MacWaIters and MacRedmonds of Connacht, are all branches of the great Norman-Irish family of de Burgo or Burke.
    Most Irish names were anglicised during the second half of the 16th century and appear for the first time in an English dress in the precious state documents of the period declaring that so-and-so had forfeited his land. The anglicisation appears to have been the work of AngIo-Irish government officials possessing a fair knowledge of the Irish language. The present forms date, generally speaking, from that period. The name was generally written down more or less as it was pronounced, but without any regard to the Irish spelling. Thus Ua Laoi (pronounced Lee) became O’Lee, MacMurrough became Morrow or Murphy and so on. There have been however other forms of anglicisation at a later period. Thus during the last and the preceding centuries many families’ abandoned the old phonetic rendering of their surnames and adopted instead a more English form, which was supposed to be a translation of the Irish surname. The following are examples of translated surnames:-O’Bruic, Badger; O’Bruacain, Banks; O’Cadain, Barnacle; O’Malachy, Blessing; O’Marcy, Ryder; O’Bradain, Fisher; MacConroy, King; MacConshnamha, Forde; MacShane, Johnson; O’Braignain, Thornton; O’Gaoitin, Wyndham. Foreign names have also been substituted for Irish names having a similar sound as: Carleton for O’Carelan; Harrington for O’Harractain; Clinton for MacClintain and so on. Then in many cases therelhas been plain substitution. Thus O’Clumain is made Clifford in Limerick, Kerry and Mayo, and Coleman in Carlow and Wexford. MacGuarnacain is anglicised Gordon in Mayo and Down. O’Lane is made Lyons in Cork and Donegal. In America substitution has of course been carried to greater lengths.

The Muls and the Gils.’

Interesting are the O’Mul- and MacGil- (GaeIic, O’Maoil- and MacGiolla-) names which are now found beginning in Mal-, Mel-, Mil-, Mol-, Mul-, and MacEL-, MacIL-, Gil-, Kil-, MacL-, Cl-, L-, and other forms. There are few surnames in O’Gil. The Scotch surname Ogilvy (Ogilvie), which is wrongly quoted as the only 0’ name in Scotland is probably not Gaelic at all. The accent of the name is on the first syllable, and the name is probably a Lowland, not a Highland, one. In most names Mul- stands for "servant of" or "votary of," indi-cating that these names are of Christian origin. Such was Christian reverence in those ages of faith that a man never called himself by a saint’s name, but always with some modification of it. Plain Patrick, Columba, Brigid are modern nomenclature unknown in early Irish or Scotch annals. Thus "MaolEoin" (Malone) means "the son of the servant of St. John;" "Malcolm," common in Scotland, means "the son of the servant of St. Columba." "Gil" (Giolla) also means "servant" and thus we have "Gilla-de" (Gildea, Gilday, Kilday) "servant of God"; Mac-Giolla-Iosa (MacAleese, Maclise, McLeish), "descendant or son of the servant of Jesus." Other names in Mul- and Gil- are Maolmhuire (Mulery, Mulry, Meyler, Miles, MacElmurry, Kilmurray, Kilmary, Gilmary, Gilmore), "descendant of the servant of Mary"; O’Maoilmhichil (Mulvy, Mulvihil, Mulverhill) "descendant of the servant of St. Michael." MacLane, MacLean meant "son of the servant of St. John." Mullpeter, Gilfeather, Gilfoyle, Kilfoyle refer to Sts. Peter and Paul. Mulbride, MacGilbride, MacBride, Kilbride, Mucklebreed all came from "Maelbrighte" or "Gillabrighte," "the servant of Brigid." These names have been still further anglicised: Thus Macgillabreede has become Gibson. As Kilkelly comes from Cellach, so Kilkenny comesfrom St. Canice. Mulhollands, Mahollands are descendants of the servant of St. Callan, from whom also comes Tyrholland, or the house of Callan. MacAlinden, McCljnton, McClintock are MacCiolla Fhionntain, -Fhiontog, from St. Fintan. Moloy, Molloy, Milloy, Meloy date from Pagan times and in them Mul- means "hero." There are at least two hundred different modern forms of Mul- and Gil- names, borne by hundreds of thousands, few of whom know anything of the origin or significance of their patronymics.
This paper is merely suggestive and does not pretend to be a scientific investigation of the development of Irish surnames. Nor have I said much of Scottish names which are formed on Irish principles and are mere twigs and branches from the great trunk rooted in Ireland, the centre of the Celtic world. To deal exhaustively with Irish surnames would require a volume, and here all reference to Christian names, to say nothing of place names, has to be excluded. The great majority of the Whites, Blacks, Greys, Browns, etc., are translations from the Irish. This is likewise true of the Butlers, Tailors or Taylors, Carpenters, Painters, Foxes, Smyths, etc. The practice was in conformity with the statute in 1464 of Edward IV. ordering that "all residing within the counties of Mcath, Dublin and Kildare (namely the territories to which the power of the king of England was then restricted), should adopt an English surname--either from a town, as Sutton, Chester, Trim, Skrine, Cork, Kinsale, or from some color, as Black, White, Brown, or from some trade as Smith, Carpenter; or from an office, as Cook, Butler; and that their posterity should retain that name in future time." . . This law, disregarded at that time when English power was still at a low ebb, was later widely followed. "Thus," says Lynch, "WheneVer the vicissitudes of war gave the ascendancy to the English, the Irish adopted names conformable to the English fashion. . , . Thus the Sinnachs called themselves Fox; the Mac-angllohhann (MacGowan), Smyth; the Calbhain, White ; the Brannach Walsh; which were merely translations of the Irish name." Thus have gone names with kingly ancestries, immemorial pedigrees, and often a thousand years at least of brilliant history, Gaelic names honored in every state of Europe to be replaced even to this day, where English is spoken, by dull alien cognomens, often with hardly a meaning or suggestion. If this is often the effect and reward of meanness and folly, its root is oftener our own widespread. ignorance concerning the career of that "old, immemorial race" "possessed of an antique civilization" (Newman), "whose history is the most illustrious in Europe" (Zimmer), "who laid the foundations of medieval civilization over all the continent" (Zimmer).