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IRISH FIRST NAMES Irish
Christian names can cause such confusion amongst those who search
for their elusive ancestors. The confusion exists for a number of
reasons. In ancient times the Irish had only one name, the name was usually descriptive, names such as ‘The hound without a mother’ – Cúganmhathair; The Hound of Culainn – Cú Chulainn; The Black haired person from two rough districts – Dubhdábhoireann; Colm was simply a dove like person; Diarmaid was someone without envy. There are thousands of such names recorded in the Annals, the lives of the Saints and the Martyrologies, Christianity brought few of these in. Christianity introduced ‘Mael’ (servant of) and ‘Giolla’ (devotee of): so Maelíosa is servant of Jesus; Maelmhuire is servant of Mary while Giollaphádraig is devotee of Patrick. Today, on baptismal and civil records people are most commonly given two names, the second name to distinguish them from someone of the same first name and surname. The second name may be a family name. In the past, the second name was most usually a family name. However, it was not common practise to record this family name or second name on official documentation. So, while Patrick the son of Michael O’Brien was known locally as Patrick Michael or Paddy Mick (in Irish or English), his recorded name was ‘Patrick’ on baptismal records or civil records. Very few people, who seek ancestors with two first names in Irish records realise that the second name (particularly when they were Roman Catholics) is usually an ‘adopted’ name. This ‘adopted’ name was most often the father or mothers first name, or Christian name. Those ancestors who ‘adopted’ a name, left, in effect a hint for family history researchers of the future. The 'adopted' name may be a name taken at confirmation. Few even notice this practise as they read through parish records or look at lists of names from Irish civil registers. Civil registration began in 1845 for non-RC marriages, it was introduced for births and deaths of all religious denominations and RC marriages in 1864. We only have to glance through the pages of any Civil Registration index for 1845 and 1864 in order to see that few people seem to have two Christian names on civil records and that statistically there are more people with two names pre-1864 than there are afterwards. We only have to glance through a Protestant (any denomination) parish record and compare this with a Catholic one to see this difference. Yet, it is a fact that rarely strikes those who search for an ancestor with two names. People think that our names changed because of Anglicisation – however, names in our oldest parish registers are written in either English or Latin. Latin was generally used in areas where Irish was the language in use. Very few parish registers had complete entries in Latin. Usually the first name was Latinised, the surnames and placenames written in Englsih. Many people fail to realise that names considered to by typically Irish are have been ‘introduced’ to Ireland. The Irish abroad have long been known as ‘Paddy’ because so many men were called Patrick after St. Patrick – the Patron saint of Ireland, yet, the name Patrick is an introduced one. St. Patrick himself was brought to Ireland as a slave, and the name ‘Patrick’ is found mainly to be held by English and Welsh who came with the Normans and rarely by a native Irish in early Irish records. The Norsemen introduced names such as Olaf (Olive, Olave); Magnus (Manus); Renald; Lochlain (Loughlainn, Loghlain) and Roderick (Rory). The Normans introduced many names which we consider to be typically Irish. They came to Ireland and spread through the whole country, from Antrim to Kerry and from Mayo to Wexford, north, south, east and west they settled in and mixed with the Irish. At the time, English officials complained that the Normans were more Irish than the Irish themselves. The Normans gave us Anna, Agnes, Alice, Catherine, Cecily, Eleanor, Honora, Isabella, Joan, Margaret. From these names come other names such as Úna which is an Irish form of Agnes. For boys they gave us Benedict, David, Edward, Gerald, Geoffrey, Henry, Hugo (Hugh), James, John, Matthew, Maurise, Michael, Myles, Nicholas, Oliver, Pierse (Peter), Philip, Raymond, Richard, Robert, Roger, Simon, Stephen, Walter and William. The Norman and Irish Lords brought in names from the Western islands and highlands of Scotland. We have Alasdair (Alexander), Coll and Randal. At that time (Middle ages) the Church also began to insist that children be given the names of well-known Saints, so we have Angela, Barbara, Clare, Gertrude, Monica, Teresa and Ursula. Also, men’s names such as Alphonsus, Augustine, Bartholomew, Bernard, Christopher, Dominic, Francis, Paul and Vincent. After the Hundred Year War, the English began to have more influence in Ireland; typical English names were introduced such as George, Jasper, Victor, Wilfred, Valentine and Sidney, Arabella, Belinda, Charlotte, Matilda, Pamela and Sophia. The English immigrants also used names from the Old Testament: Elizabeth, Ester, Judith, Rebecca, Sarah, Susannah, Abraham, Ebenezer, Isaac, Joshua, Moses and Samuel. Legal officers and Landlords tried to reduce Irish names to some form which they could understand, so names changed. Those in authority were not all to blame either, the Irish gave male names to females and vice-versa, they had diminutives for names, they had their own variations on any name which were seemingly unrelated to the original. Different accents resulted in different pronunciations. It was common amongst Protestants to give surnames as Christian names, usually the name was given to sons and it was normally either the mother’s maiden name or the surname of some relative the son would inherit from. Some people insisted that when the time came for a young man to inherit that person’s property, then that young man would take on the person’s surname. Names
given to both sexes. Diminutives
differing from the original: Many
names were used interchangeably and accepted. This may be because
of the Irish form of the name or a common diminutive to both names
either in their Irish, English or Latin form. With the attempts of officialdom to change Irish names to versions which they could understand, we have other names which are equivalents of one another, but not necessarily a direct translation of one another. Irish:
English Favourite
Catholic first names were: Favourite
Protestant boy names were: Favourite
Protestant girls names seem to have been: Some
Regional Naming Practices: Abbreviations
found in records Back to Top - From Ireland Home Page http://www.from-ireland.net |
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