sloiwice SAeOeM IS sAli n. 3/6 SLoinnce 'SAe'beAl If jAtt j» ^t IRISH NAMES AND SURNAMES ^ ^ ^ ^ Ctiix) A "06 bAite AtA CtiAt: m. 11. triAC All Soill 1 A TtiAC DUBLIN : M. H. GILL & SON 1922 PRINTED BY JOHN ENGLISH & CO. WEXFORD KJ vj o . CONTENTS — PAGE Preface .. V CHAPTER I.—PERSONAL NAMES —Native Names I § 2 —Classification of Irish Names 2 § 3 —foreign names in ireland 6 § 4 —cognomina 13 § 5 —interchange of names 13 § -i —declension of names 14 CHAPTER II.—SURNAMES NAMES § I.—GA]- Lie SURNAMES .. 15 § -.—SURNAMES OF THE SI-:AN-GHAILL . .. 17 ^ .. .. § 3.—COGNOMLVA USED AS SURNAMES .. 21 § 4.— ALTEJiNATIVE FOKM OF SURNAMES 21 § 5.—SYNOPSIS OF TVI'LS OF SURNAMES .. 23 § 6.—DECLENSION OF SURNAMES .. .. 24. 01" § 7.—e^URNAMFS FEMALF.S .. 27 § 8.—surnames in tiif spoken language .. 30 § 9.—Interchange of Surnames •• 33 ;§ 10.—Anglicisation of surnames . •• 35 IV • PAGE explanatory note 40 Names of Men . .42 Names OF WOMEN 47 surnames 50 c s PREFACE The favourable reception everywhere accorded to the " New Edition (EngHsh- Irish) of Stomnce 5'''^^''^^^^ ^T 5Alt " leads me to believe that the issue of a correspond- ing Irish-English version would be welcomed by the Irish public. The transfer of the Post Offtce and other public services to Irish hands makes the issue of such a version eminently desirable, if not indeed absolutely necessary. Post Office officials, and especially rural postmen, will here have a handy book of reference which will enable them to avoid delay in handling correspondence ad- dressed in Irish and minimise the chances of misde- livery. But apart from its utility in the public services, which is its main purpose, it is hoped that the book will prove generally useful. My thanks are due to my friend, Utpce^nx) "po^i^-OA, whose invaluable assistance I had on this, as on other occasions, in reading the proofs. p^'ORAIS T)e t)lltt) Kilmallock, May 26th, 1922. — — — stomnce sAer)eAt is sAtt PART I ENGLISH-IRISH By Rev. P. Woulfe SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. Father Woulfe's book is the only volume dealing entirely with Irish personal names, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is the cheapest book issued since the Irish Revival began. The Limerick Leader. Father Woulfe is to be congratulated on a book which is of personal interest to ever}^ Irish man and woman, whether they are Gaelic speakers or not. It is a marvel of cheapness. Tke Catholic Herald. One of the most interesting books which have come to us as a result of the Irish Revival.— The Derry Journal. Father V/oulfe's book on Irish Names and Surnames is the most useful book for Irish Irelanders that has been issued for a long time.— The Enniscorthy Guardian. This useful publication contains the English and Irish equiva- lents of practically all the Christian and family names usually met with in the roll-calj of our race. The Irish Catholic. It is evident that the author has taken great pains to verify the names ; and he has cleared up not a few points that had hitherto been in doubt. The Gaelic American. — Thorough research has enabled the author to compile tnl* exhaustive list. — The freeman's Journal. An introductory chapter gives valuable information on the subject in general, and the book is of first importance to the student.— The Cork Examiner. The preliminary essay on Irish Names and Surnames is well worth the price of the book, for it contains a store of information that would be almost inaccessible to the student and would be wholly beyond the ken of the average Irish reader. The volume is indispensable to the Irish Irelander, and a valuable book of reference for Irish readers of every class.- The Irish Independent. Father Woulfe's work bears on the face of it proofs of immense research ; the author has gathered together his material from every sort of document and monument, and from Irish speakers in every corner of Ireland—nay, more, he has sought out Irish speakers in the large cities of England and Scotland, and by their aid he has made many an unusual name to yield up its life history.— Waterford Arch cbological Journal. New Edition, Paper, 2/6 net, by post 2/8 Cloth, 4/- „ „ 4/3 Dublin : M. H. GILL & SON, Ltd. And all Booksellers — THE IRISH NAME-SYSTEM CHAPTER I—PERSONAL NAMES § I Native Names The Ancient Irish, like the Greeks and Hebrews, were called by only one name, as Aonguf, T)iAtvmAi'o, "Oorh- riAit, &c. ; but, for the sake of distinction, a cognomen derived from some personal peculiarity, or a patronymic formed by prefixing rriAc to the genitive case of the father's name, or 6 to that of the grandfather, was sometimes added. Surnames in the modern sense were unknown in Ireland before the tenth century. This usage necessitated a large number of names and led to the formation of a very varied and interesting Gaelic personal nomenclature. The Annals of the Four Masters alone contain nearly two thousand names, and perhaps as many more might be collected from genealogical books and other sources. Some of these names, no doubt, lived only for a short time and have long since entirely disappeared ; but we have names, like Act), AfvC, CiAn, ConCoDAjA, T)iA|\niAiT), •Ooitin^lt, X)onn6Atf, GoCAit), 605-411, &c., which have been in uninterrupted use from the earliest period of which we have record down to the present any day ; while many others, though long obsolete as Christian names, are still preserved in our surnames. — : ^ 2 Classification of Irish Names Irish personal names may be divided according la lorm into several classes : 1. The first and oldest class consists of names lormed by the union of two independent elements or themes,* both nouns and generally monosyllables, as : Aon-gup t (one-choice). mAon-5<NL (gift-valour), blAc-riiAC (blossom-son). iTlu5-p6n (slave-seal) DpAn-5At (raven-valour), niuiii-seAp (sea-choice), CAic-n»A (battle- hero), mxip-CA-o (sea- warrior), Cac-aI (battle- ruler), fnu]A-5AL (sea-valour), PaoI-ca-6 (wolf- warrior), niAll-sup (champion-choice), plAic-seAp (dominion-choice), Cuac-aI (people-ruler), I eA]i-5vif (sea- choice), Cwac-saI (people-valour). 2. The second class comprises names formed by the union of two nouns, the first of which governs the ^econd in the genitive case, as ; Cu-CACA (hound of battle), Cu-niApA (hound of the sea). "OonnpLeiOo (Brown- inan+ of the mountain). "Oub eAnuiA (Black-man of eAiiiAin). "Oub-j'ice (Black-man of peace), mAol-AnpAi-6 (chief of the storm). The second noun sometimes takes the article, as . Cu-An-At)nAi5 (hound of the fair). 510IIA HA ilAOtii (servant of the saints) A large number of names of this class are compounds of TTlAot. or 5»c)tLA, and the name of God or a saint, as mAolbpisTjo (servant of St. Brigid), mAolpATjpAis (servant of St. Patrick). gtollA Cjti'opc (servant of Christ) SiotlA "Oe (servant of God). *Such names are termed dithematic The first element I^ called the prototheme, the second the deuterotheme Some themes are exclusively protothemes, others exclusively deutero- themes; while others canbe either protothemes or deuterothemesw Names containing only one element are termed monothematic. t In order to show more clearly the composition of the names, the themes are separated by a hyphen, tOr Lord of the mountain. : Ceite was used in the same way, as : Ceile Cpiofc (spouse of Christ), Ceile poA-OAitA (spouse of Peter). T)ut> is frequently compounded with a word, or place- name, preceded by the numeral "oa, two, as : *Out)--OA-li)OiiteAnn (Black of the two Burrens), •Otib-'OA-c|iioc (Black of the two territories), X>vjb--OA-inbeAp (Black of the two river mouths), •Oub--OA-leice (Black of the two sides, or halves), pe^p was similarly used, as : peA]t--oA-c|iioc (man of the two territories), Cu, a hound, and figuratively a warrior or chieftain^ enters largely into the composition of names of this class. 3. The third class, which comprises only a few names, consists of names formed from two nouns connected by a conjunctive particle, as : Cij-5An-TTJACAitt (motherless hound), •OAl-|ie--oocAip (difi&cult division). peAji-5An-Ainm (nameless). 4. The fourth class, which is very numerous, com- prises names formed by the union of a noun and a qualifying adjective, as : ^|fO-5Al (high valour), X)xib-cij (black hound), CiA|t-mAC (black son), "Oub-siollA (black lad), *Oonn-ceAr«n (brown head), pOTin-bA|t|t (fair head), *Ou5-ceAnn (black head), -plAnn-CAX) (ruddy wa.rrior)» Or the adjective may follow the noun, as : t>Aift^-fMonn (fair head), Cu-T)ub (black hound), "bitAn'-oub (black raven), giollA-'oub (black lad), CeAnn-x>ub (black head), mAol-CAOin (gentle cnief). 5. The fifth class comprises " pet" names,* or shortened forms of the dithematic names already described, as : t)Aiiipe, t^Aijie, t)A|if»A for t)Ai|t]ipior»n or "pionnbA^tft pionriA, "ptonnu, "ptnniA for "pionnbAjtit, or some other name commencing with pionn-. " * Ordinary "pet names are : Pat and Paddy for Patrick, Tom and Tommy for Thomas, Will and Willie for William, Sometimes no trace of the second element remams, and the " pet" name is then undistinguishable from a monothematic name (next class below). Thus, for instance, Aott may be a shortened form of Ae-OJein, Aot)$Ai, or AcOtuj;, or it may be a monothematic name and originally bestowed directly.