This list can by no means be considered comprehensive. Those surnames with an asterisk are listed in ‘The Surnames of Ireland’ Edward MacLysaght, sixth edition (1997), published by the Irish Academic Press, ISBN 0-7165-2364-7. I have not used this book in the creation of this list, however consulting this book will give you some idea of where the surname or it’s variations may possibly be found in Ireland.

Parish records were either written in English or Latin. Never in Irish. The surname ALWAYS retains the English spelling (or a phonetic variation – the same surname can be spelled differently in any set of records, probably depending on the way that the person writing it spelled the name, and whether that person was a local to the area or not.) The rules of Latin are not necessarily followed, the spelling of the name changes and does not become what it should become. That is to say, Latin has rules and with those rules the basic name will change indicating a parent or a child. The child’s name will be given in it’s basic form – that is the nominative form, but the end of the parents name will change somewhat (the genative form). Putting this as simply as possible, the child may be called after one of the parents, but the spelling of each name while it looks almost the same will end differently.

How each ending changed, depended on the nominative – the plain form of the name – and there were rules to be followed. These rules changed when it was a marriage.

However, the rules of the language were not always followed and the endings of names can be different even when it is the same person filling in the register and this causes so much confusion amongst researchers.

The root of the name is what is important – that is, how the beginning of the name is spelled – how similar it is to that of the child – so long as that is similar, then you can take it that the child and one of the parents had the same name.

Sometimes, the translation can throw us off track – for example, Johanna meaning Jane, Jean, Johanna and also being translated as *Honora*

The fact that the in Latin “J” was written “I”. Regardless of grammatical changes in names, little things such as Ioannes and Johannes being John are not too easily seen.

Adalbertus = Albert or George
Adam (Ade) = Adam
Aedus = Hugh
Aemilia = Emily
Agna = Agnes, Nancy
Agneta = Agnes
Alanus = Alan
Albertus = Albert
Alesia, Alicia = Alice
Alfredus, Aluredus = Alfred
Alicia = Alice, Elsie, Alyssa
Alienora, Eleanora, Elianora = Eleanor
Aloisius = Aloysius, Louis, Luis
Aloysius = Aloysius or Lewis
Alvredus = Alfred
Amica, Amata, Amia = Amy
Anastasia = Anastasia or Nancy
Andreas = Andrew
Anna = Ann, Anne
Antonius = Anthony
Arcturus, Artorius, Arturus = Arthur
Audoenus, Audoinus, Oeneus, Oenus = Owen
Augustinus = Austin
Avelina = Evelyn
Bartholomeus = Bartholomew
Beatrix = Betteris, Beatrice
Benedicta (f.)= Benedict, Benet
Benedictus (m.) = Benedict, Benet
Bertrandus = Bertram
Brigida, Brigitta = Bridget, Brigid
Carolum, Carolus = Charles, Carl
Caterina, Katerina, Katharina = Catherine
Catharina = Catherine, Kathryn, Kathleen
Cecilia = Cisley, Cecily
Cecilius = Cecil
Christiana, Christina = Christine
Christophorus = Christopher
Constantia, Custancia = Constance
Daniele = Daniel
Denisia, Dionisia = Denise
Dionisius, Dionisius, Dionysius = Denis
Donatus = Duncan
Dorothea = Dorothy
Eadmundus, Edmundus = Edmund, Edmond
Eadwardus, Eduardus, Edwardus = Edward
Lena = Helen, Ellen
Elias = Ellis
Elisabetha, Elizabetha = Elizabeth, Beth, Betty,
Erchenbaldus = Archibald
Eustachius = Eustace
Eva = Eve
Felicia = Felice
Francisca (f.) = Frances
Franciscus (m.) = Francis, Frank
Fridericus = Frederick
Georgius = George
Gerardus = Gerard
Gilebertus, Gislebertus = Gilbert
Giraldus, Geroldus = Gerald
Godefridus, Godefredus = Godfrey
Goisfridus, Gosfridus = Geoffrey
Gratia = Grace
Gualterus = Walter
Guglielmus, Gulielmus, Guilhelmus, Gulielmo, Gulielmum = William
Haraldus = Harold
Helena = Helen, Ellen, Nell, Aileen, Eileen
Henricum, Henricus = Henry
Henrietta = Henrietta or Harriet
Hereweccus, Herveius = Henry
Hieremias = Jeremiah
Honorah = Nora, Norah, (Jane, Jean, Joan!)
Honoria = Honour, Honor
Hugo = Hugh
Isabella = Isabel
Ioannes, Joannes, Joannis, Johannes, Johannis = John
Jacobus = James or Jacob
Joanna, Johanna = Joan, Jane, Jeanne, Jeanette, Joanne, Sinead, Siobhan
Johanna = Jane, Joan, Jean and Honora
Josephum = Joseph
Josias = Josiah
Laurencia, Laurencius, Laurentium = Laurence, Lawrence
Lucas = Luke
Ludovicus, Lodovicus = Lewis, Louis
Malachias = Malachy
Marcus = Mark, Marcus
Margareta, Margreta = Margaret
Margeria = Margery
Maria = Mary, Maureen, Molly, Marie
Maria Anna = Mary Ann, Marian, Marianne
Mariana = Marion
Martinus = Martin
Mathaeus, Mattheus, Mathias, Matthias = Matthew
Matilda, Matildis, Matillis = Matilda, Maud
Mauricius, Meuricius = Maurice
Michaelem = Michael
Milo = Miles
Moyses = Moses
Muriella, Miriela, Mirielda = Muriel
Oliva = Olive
Patricius, Patritius = Patrick
Petrus = Peter
Philippa, Philippe = Philip
Radulfus, Radulphus = Ralph
Randolphus = Randal, Randolph
Reginaldus = Reynold
Reimundus = Raymond
Ricardus = Richard, Dick
Rugerius = Roger, Rory
Samuelem = Samuel
Stephanus = Stephen
Theodoricus = Theodore, Derek
Thomasum = Thomas
Timotheus = Timothy
Tobias = Toby
Vincencius = Vincent
Willelmus, Guillelmus= William

Some Changes in Names seen in Irish Parish Registers

In Latin, the spelling of a name will change depending on whether it is simply the name itself, or whether it is the name of a parent or a bride. If you have two names in a register which to your mind should be spelled exactly the same way and they are not – then this is because the rules of Latin and the way that names should be spelled tell us whether it is the child or parent who is being named.

The name changes to indicate “son/daughter of, bride of.” The first name is spelled as it should be and the way the parents first name ends

James son of James should read : “Jacobus filius Jacobi.”

This combination of endings is constant for any male name that ends in ”us” eg. Anthonius, Bartolomaeus, Cornelius, Carolus, Edwardus, Franciscus, Gulielmus, Henricus, Josephus, Patricius, Petrus, Stephanus, Timotheus.

Any name ending in “us” used as the father’s name should end in “i”

e.g Anthonius, filius Edwardi; (Anthony son of Edward)
Petrus, filius Stephani; (Peter son of Stephen)
Josephus, filius Patricii. Joseph son of Patrick

John son of John becomes Johannes, filius Johannis

Any name ending in “es” or “is” in the nominative case e.g Johannes, Danielis, Micaelis takes the “is” or can remain the same
Danielis filius Micaelis : Daniel son of Michael
Danielis filius Johannis : Daniel son of John
Johannes filius Danielis : John son of Daniel

Names ending in “o” add “nis” to the father or the mother
Hugo filius Hugonis : Hugh, son of Hugh

Names ending in “a” should end in “ae” when it is the father or mother who is mentioned in the records – in most cases with Irish records the “e” is absent when it comes to Mariae
e.g. Maria, filia Mariae : Mary, daughter of Mary
This group includes:
Anna, Brigitta, Caecilia, Catherina, Elena, Elinora, Hanoria, Honoria, Johanna, Rosa.
e.g.
Brigitta, filia Annae : Bridget daughter of Anne
Honoria, filia Johannae: Honoria daughter of Joan (see name list above Honora = Joan)
Catherina, filia Elenae : Catherine daughter of Helen.

Helen is a name that is rarely seen in parish records that are written in English up to the late 19th century. This name is usually found as Ellen in Irish parish records that are written in Latin

Winifred should belong to this group and just becomes Winifreda

Marriage can be slightly different: if the name ends in “a” the ending becomes “am”
e.g
Johannes nupsit Annam : John married Anne
Jacobus nupsit Brigittam : Jacob (James) married Bridget

5) names ending in “ix” should become “icis” in the genitive: Beatrix filia Beatricis

6) there are a few odd ones, namely Thomas, Jeremias, Barnabas, Adamus, which
don’t fit the rules and can be found in different forms
e.g Thoma filius Thomae : Thomas son of Thomas
Thomas filius Thome : Thomas son of Thomas
Adamus, filius Ade or Adam : Adam son of Adam

The name Bridget usually follows the same form in baptismal records as it should in marriage records, i.e. Bridget is often written as Bridgetam in baptismal records whereas it should read Bridgeta

Irish surnames are very important, especially the unusual ones and there are so many unusual names to be found in our records.

What is an Irish Surname?

First of all, we have the question “What exactly is an Irish surname?” Is it a name which originated in Ireland and was only ever found in Ireland? Is it a name as gaeilge (through Irish)? Is it a name which was brought in to Ireland with the Normans? Or does that remain a name of Norman origin, which is found in Ireland.

If a person tells someone that their Grandparents came from Ireland and that story is handed down through generations for 300 years and then some member of that family decides to trace their ancestry – and they just know that their ancestors came from Ireland, and they ask a question somewhere – a mail list, a message board or at a genealogical society meeting and other people tell them “That is not an Irish name because it is not found in the Mathesons Report on Irish surnames and it is not found in any of the books published by Edward McLysaght”, then I ask you what is the descendant to do? If they are told that the name is found in England, Scotland, Wales, France or Spain, but not Ireland, by those who possess the publications I’ve mentioned, where do they turn? If their ancestors said they came from Ireland, then to my mind, those people must have been born in Ireland regardless of where their parents or grandparents came from.

Origin and Accents

Edward McLysaght gives the origin of some Irish surnames, where they may have been found in Ireland, where they were most common, some being found only in one county. He lists some variations, some synonyms, he tells where a name may have been changed to something which seems totally unlike the original between one county and another. He, through his lists does give some idea of surnames which can sound the same.

Now, if we stop to think, the accents in many Irish counties are different, definitely noticeable between places like Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Belfast. Words are pronounced differently. In some places people sounded an ‘e’ as we do an ‘a’ today, they said dis or dat – dropping their ‘th’, or in other instances an ‘h’ was put beside a ‘t’ in most words whether it actually is or was there in the spelling of the word as per any dictionary. In the midlands the ‘a’ sound is accentuated, longer in a word than when the same word is pronounced by someone from somewhere else.

The Correct Way!

In records we have to deal with the accents of people who for the most part used Irish as their spoken tongue, we have to deal with ‘olde’ English where there is a ‘y’ in words in place of an ‘i’, where a word beginning with ‘f’ may have had two ‘ff’s, where when we had two ‘s’s in a word they were written as two f’s’. We have to remember that the person writing any word down may have come from another county, may have written as he or she heard the word – phonetically – and if that name was found in the county they originated in, then they will have written the name as it was spelled in their own county. So, my ancestor may have spelled his name one way, someone else may have written it down a second way and when I go to the records for that county I may never find either variation, that is if I stick doggedly to the name as I know it to be spelled. However, if I stop to think and I check those names which may sound the same regardless of spelling, then I can strike gold!

So many times I have seen people on mail lists looking for this name or that name in Ireland or in a county and begin told by others that the name is not Irish, being told that the ‘correct’ way to spell a name is this way or that way. But in my opinion, there is no ‘correct’ way to spell a name – there is today’s way of spelling it, there is yesterday’s way of spelling it and there are many variations in yesterdays way – all depending on literacy and phonetics. Who is able to judge the ‘correct’ way? If people have carried a spelling through generations, and then they go looking for their ancestors in the county their ancestors said they came from, and all the people who have been doing all the transcribing of records over the years had corrected the spellings as they found them in records to the ‘correct’ spelling of the time – then surely the end result would be absolutely so different from the original as to be another name altogether? In the same way as a few words are whispered to someone in a group and then the ‘same’ words are whispered to the next person and so on, until the last person repeats what was supposed to have been said by the first, and it is totally different from the original.

What right have we to correct these words – what right have we to decide on the ‘correct’ version, who decides which is right and which is wrong?

I would ask those of you who do transcribe records to please not change the spellings as you find them, those spellings may be the hint that some other person seeks at another time.

Variations, examples

People hear that Irish records were written in Irish or that some names were written in Irish. The number of times that I personally have seen surnames written in Irish have been few and far between. However, there are some names we see, which may come from the original Irish form of a name, this may accounts for some synonyms we see, where one form of a word may begin with ‘C’ or ‘W’ and the other form begins with a ‘Q’. The letter ‘Q’ is not found in the Irish alphabet, and depending again on the original name spelling and the person transcribing the record they may have heard ‘Q’ and not ‘C’ or ‘W’. For example: ‘Ó Cuineáin = Queenan’, and then again I’ve heard names through English which begin with a ‘W’ being pronounced as if they began with a ‘Q’

I remember being asked once why it was that so many Irish Roman Catholic records were written in Latin, whereas in England most of the records were written in English. At the time, I had no answer, since then I have read that Latin records were generally kept in those areas where Irish was spoken. Since then I have also read that the Irish were very proficient in Latin, that they actually spoke Latin and Greek as well as Irish, and many were considered illiterate because they didn’t speak English, no census taker, enquirer ever thought to ask “Have you read Homer or the Iiliad?”

While I see these questions on the mail lists, ‘Is this an Irish surname’ what is the Irish for this surname?’, I never see anyone come along and ask ‘How many ways could I spell this surname, how many of those ways would not seem similar enough for me to recognise them as being possibilities for my surname as I go through records?’

Let me give you some examples,
Easy enough to spot the variations
Achmooty* /Aughmuty* /Aghmuty /Ahmuty /Auchmuty
Ahearn* /Aheran /Ahern /Aherne* /Ahearn* /Aheron
Archdeacon* /Archdekin /Arcedeckne /Aercedeckne /Arsdekin /Arcedeickne
Bagnall* /Bagnel /Bagnell /Bagnal /Bagenal
Bailey* /Bailie/ Bailie*/ Baillie/ Bailly /Baily /Bayley /Baylie /Bayly*
Barber* /Barbor/ Barbour*
Daily/ Daley/ Dally/ Daly* /Dawley* /Dalyly
Delahayde /Delahide/ Delahoide /Delahoyde

With a bit of guesswork:
Eayres/ Ayres* /Eyres/ Eyre*/ Ayre*
Ellard*/ Aylward* /Elliard
Fair* /Phair* /Faire
Fay* /Fee*/Foy*/Fey*/Fye*
Archbold* /Archaball

And then we come to the difficult ones, the names which sound the same but look different.
Adlum/Odlum – easy enough
Agar/Eagar – not too bad either
Agarty/Hegarty
Aldin/Heldan
Armour/Larmour
Aghoon/Whitesteed – McLysaght says so, different counties!
Cullinane/Quillinane
Cuddy/Quiddihy
Coyd/Quoid
Cuogly/Quogly
Clendinning/Glendinning
Coggin/Goggin
Innis/Ennis
Ivory/Evory
Kilfoyle/Guilfoyle
Felan/Phelan
Walter/Qualter
MacWhirter/MacQuirter

If we look to the above examples, we can see a common theme – the vowels a and e can be substituted for one another as can the other vowel letters, an ‘l’ may be doubled or on it’s own and we still have the same sound to a word, the ‘h’ can be dropped depending on whether it is emphasised in a word or not, the ‘c’ and the ‘q’ can be substituted for one another as can the ‘w’ and the ‘q’ and the ‘k’ and ‘g’.

This is not to say that these substitutions are standard and that no matter what your name you will find a variation.

The main surname lists are simply guides, guides to possible variations on names, as they develop then I will begin surnames as per county, similar lists to these which will give surnames and variations as I have seen them in records for that county.

Parish records were either written in English or Latin. Never in Irish. The surname ALWAYS retains the English spelling (or a phonetic variation – the same surname can be spelled differently in any set of records, probably depending on the way that the person writing it spelled the name, and whether that person was a local to the area or not.) The rules of Latin are not necessarily followed, the spelling of the name changes and does not become what it should become. That is to say, Latin has rules and with those rules the basic name will change indicating a parent or a child. The child’s name will be given in it’s basic form – that is the nominative form, but the end of the parents name will change somewhat (the genative form). Putting this as simply as possible, the child may be called after one of the parents, but the spelling of each name while it looks almost the same will end differently.

How each ending changed, depended on the nominative – the plain form of the name – and there were rules to be followed. These rules changed when it was a marriage.

However, the rules of the language were not always followed and the endings of names can be different even when it is the same person filling in the register and this causes so much confusion amongst researchers.

The root of the name is what is important – that is, how the beginning of the name is spelled – how similar it is to that of the child – so long as that is similar, then you can take it that the child and one of the parents had the same name.

Sometimes, the translation can throw us off track – for example, Johanna meaning Jane, Jean, Johanna and also being translated as *Honora*

The fact that the in Latin “J” was written “I”. Regardless of grammatical changes in names, little things such as Ioannes and Johannes being John are not too easily seen.

Latin Names

Adalbertus = Albert or George
Adam (Ade) = Adam
Aedus = Hugh
Aemilia = Emily
Agna = Agnes, Nancy
Agneta = Agnes
Alanus = Alan
Albertus = Albert
Alesia, Alicia = Alice
Alfredus, Aluredus = Alfred
Alicia = Alice, Elsie, Alyssa
Alienora, Eleanora, Elianora = Eleanor
Aloisius = Aloysius, Louis, Luis
Aloysius = Aloysius or Lewis
Alvredus = Alfred
Amica, Amata, Amia = Amy
Anastasia = Anastasia or Nancy
Andreas = Andrew
Anna = Ann, Anne
Antonius = Anthony
Arcturus, Artorius, Arturus = Arthur
Audoenus, Audoinus, Oeneus, Oenus = Owen
Augustinus = Austin
Avelina = Evelyn
Bartholomeus = Bartholomew
Beatrix = Betteris, Beatrice
Benedicta (f.)= Benedict, Benet
Benedictus (m.) = Benedict, Benet
Bertrandus = Bertram
Brigida, Brigitta = Bridget, Brigid
Carolum, Carolus = Charles, Carl
Caterina, Katerina, Katharina = Catherine
Catharina = Catherine, Kathryn, Kathleen
Cecilia = Cisley, Cecily
Cecilius = Cecil
Christiana, Christina = Christine
Christophorus = Christopher
Constantia, Custancia = Constance
Daniele = Daniel
Denisia, Dionisia = Denise
Dionisius, Dionisius, Dionysius = Denis
Donatus = Duncan
Dorothea = Dorothy
Eadmundus, Edmundus = Edmund, Edmond
Eadwardus, Eduardus, Edwardus = Edward
Lena = Helen, Ellen
Elias = Ellis
Elisabetha, Elizabetha = Elizabeth, Beth, Betty,
Erchenbaldus = Archibald
Eustachius = Eustace
Eva = Eve
Felicia = Felice
Francisca (f.) = Frances
Franciscus (m.) = Francis, Frank
Fridericus = Frederick
Georgius = George
Gerardus = Gerard
Gilebertus, Gislebertus = Gilbert
Giraldus, Geroldus = Gerald
Godefridus, Godefredus = Godfrey
Goisfridus, Gosfridus = Geoffrey
Gratia = Grace
Gualterus = Walter
Guglielmus, Gulielmus, Guilhelmus, Gulielmo, Gulielmum = William
Haraldus = Harold
Helena = Helen, Ellen, Nell, Aileen, Eileen
Henricum, Henricus = Henry
Henrietta = Henrietta or Harriet
Hereweccus, Herveius = Henry
Hieremias = Jeremiah
Honorah = Nora, Norah, (Jane, Jean, Joan!)
Honoria = Honour, Honor
Hugo = Hugh
Isabella = Isabel
Ioannes, Joannes, Joannis, Johannes, Johannis = John
Jacobus = James or Jacob
Joanna, Johanna = Joan, Jane, Jeanne, Jeanette, Joanne, Sinead, Siobhan
Johanna = Jane, Joan, Jean and Honora
Josephum = Joseph
Josias = Josiah
Laurencia, Laurencius, Laurentium = Laurence, Lawrence
Lucas = Luke
Ludovicus, Lodovicus = Lewis, Louis
Malachias = Malachy
Marcus = Mark, Marcus
Margareta, Margreta = Margaret
Margeria = Margery
Maria = Mary, Maureen, Molly, Marie
Maria Anna = Mary Ann, Marian, Marianne
Mariana = Marion
Martinus = Martin
Mathaeus, Mattheus, Mathias, Matthias = Matthew
Matilda, Matildis, Matillis = Matilda, Maud
Mauricius, Meuricius = Maurice
Michaelem = Michael
Milo = Miles
Moyses = Moses
Muriella, Miriela, Mirielda = Muriel
Oliva = Olive
Patricius, Patritius = Patrick
Petrus = Peter
Philippa, Philippe = Philip
Radulfus, Radulphus = Ralph
Randolphus = Randal, Randolph
Reginaldus = Reynold
Reimundus = Raymond
Ricardus = Richard, Dick
Rugerius = Roger, Rory
Samuelem = Samuel
Stephanus = Stephen
Theodoricus = Theodore, Derek
Thomasum = Thomas
Timotheus = Timothy
Tobias = Toby
Vincencius = Vincent
Willelmus, Guillelmus= William
Some Changes in Names seen in Irish Parish Registers

In Latin, the spelling of a name will change depending on whether it is simply the name itself, or whether it is the name of a parent or a bride. If you have two names in a register which to your mind should be spelled exactly the same way and they are not – then this is because the rules of Latin and the way that names should be spelled tell us whether it is the child or parent who is being named.

The name changes to indicate “son/daughter of, bride of.” The first name is spelled as it should be and the way the parents first name ends

James son of James should read : “Jacobus filius Jacobi.”

This combination of endings is constant for any male name that ends in “us” eg. Anthonius, Bartolomaeus, Cornelius, Carolus, Edwardus, Franciscus, Gulielmus, Henricus, Josephus, Patricius, Petrus, Stephanus, Timotheus.

Any name ending in “us” used as the father’s name should end in “i”

e.g Anthonius, filius Edwardi; (Anthony son of Edward)
Petrus, filius Stephani; (Peter son of Stephen)
Josephus, filius Patricii. Joseph son of Patrick
John son of John becomes Johannes, filius Johannis

Any name ending in “o” or “ae” in the nominative case e.g Johannes, Danielis, Micaelis takes the “is” or can remain the same
Danielis filius Micaelis : Daniel son of Michael
Danielis filius Johannis : Daniel son of John
Johannes filius Danielis : John son of Daniel

Names ending in “o” add “nis” to the father or the mother
Hugo filius Hugonis : Hugh, son of Hugh

Names ending in “a” should end in “ae” when it is the father or mother who is mentioned in the records – in most cases with Irish records the “e” is absent when it comes to Mariae
e.g. Maria, filia Mariae : Mary, daughter of Mary
This group includes:
Anna, Brigitta, Caecilia, Catherina, Elena, Elinora, Hanoria, Honoria, Johanna, Rosa.
e.g.
Brigitta, filia Annae : Bridget daughter of Anne
Honoria, filia Johannae: Honoria daughter of Joan (see name list above Honora = Joan)
Catherina, filia Elenae : Catherine daughter of Helen.

Helen is a name that is rarely seen in parish records that are written in English up to the late 19th century. This name is usually found as Ellen in Irish parish records that are written in Latin

Winifred should belong to this group and just becomes Winifreda

Marriage can be slightly different: if the name ends in “a” the ending becomes “am”
e.g
Johannes nupsit Annam : John married Anne
Jacobus nupsit Brigittam : Jacob (James) married Bridget

5) names ending in “ix” should become “icis” in the genitive: Beatrix filia Beatricis

6) there are a few odd ones, namely Thomas, Jeremias, Barnabas, Adamus, which
don’t fit the rules and can be found in different forms
e.g Thoma filius Thomae : Thomas son of Thomas
Thomas filius Thome : Thomas son of Thomas
Adamus, filius Ade or Adam : Adam son of Adam

The name Bridget usually follows the same form in baptismal records as it should in marriage records, i.e. Bridget is often written as Bridgetam in baptismal records whereas it should read Bridgeta