Common Irish Surnames and Meanings

The definition of a surname is a hereditary name passed down from generation to generation. It’s often given from the last name on the father’s side, but that isn’t always the case. In fact in Iceland they use the first name instead of last name as the surname. However, it is the most common form to use the last name in places like America, Australia, and Western Europe.

Specifically in Europe, surnames began way back in the Middle Ages as a way to keep record keeping with the aristocrats. By the 17th century it was adopted by most classes and still used to this day. The first known surname is O’Clery as it was written that the lord of Aidhne died in Galway back in 916 A.D.

Ireland was one of the initial countries to take on surnames due to the Medieval era. With so many wars, society needed last names as a way to know who you were, what work you did, and more specifically who you were allies or rivals with. Eventually common surnames became popular all throughout the country as it was a badge of honor to show your allegiance.

Credit: irishfamilyhistorycentre.com

Gaelic surnames grew rapidly for a few centuries as more families adopted the tradition. As extended families grew so did the creation of combinations of last names. Once the Gaelic order came to an end, the Irish were forced to convert Gaelic into an English language version. There wasn’t an easy way to accomplish this and many names were widely changed.

– Mc and O were now optional within the surname
– Stems of names could be used
– Gaelic names could be re translated (although often that meant mistranslated)
– An Irish family could adopt an existing English surname

List of Irish Surnames

For this reason you will see many surnames misspelled or completely different from the original Gaelic. Fortunately once Ireland claimed their Independence in 1922, many family decided to go back to using prefixes Mc or O. Today almost every families last name is back to some form or Irish tradition.

Here is a list of common Irish surnames and last names along with the Gaelic translation and a description of what it means:

When it comes to surnames in the modern area, you can now break down Irish last names into three main categories.

• Gaelic
• Cambro Norman
• Anglo Irish

The Norman invasion of 1169 had a very strong influence on Irish last names. The Anglo French gave birth to names containing meanings of “son of”. By the 1500’s the English then added in their own flair into Irish heritage. Names with “son of” started diminishing and just the last name stood (ex. Instead of son of a baron, it was just baron).

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