Irish surnames explained - the meaning behind the top ten clan names

Rinne Antoinette an-jab ach bhí sé uirthi alt gearr a scríobh. Is féidir linn níos mó a chur síos. / Antoinette did a great job but she had to write a short article. We can add to it. /////// Doyle. Ó Dubhghaill. Grandson of the black(-haired) foreigner. Tháinig sinsir an tsloinne seo as Lochlann, is dóichí as Danmhairg toisc go raibh nós againn 'Dubhghall' a rá do 'Danmhairgeach' agus 'Fionnghall' a rá do dhuine as an Iorua nó an tSualainn. Bhí siad Gaelaithe in iomlán roimh timpeall an 12ú hAois i ndlí, nós, cuid éadaigh, agus teanga. / The ancestors of this family came from Scandinavia, probably from Denmark because it was our custom to say 'Black(haired)-Foreigner' for a person from Denmark and 'Blond-Foreigner' for a person from Norway or Sweden. They were completely Gaelicized by about the 12th century in law, custom, dress, and language.

read a book on genetics called deep ancestry.... i would love to have seen ancient ireland

What happened to Doyle?

Thrilling ........ :(

Yes I like it

What a load. lol This O' h O'gain was a tough, now into law enforcement, and taint nobody with more balls. Ireland is joke. The real Irish are in N. America.

countycork: did you read Michael O'Laughlin's column posted on Mar. 22, 2010 entitled "Irish Lynch Laws & Lynch Family History"? He writes under the Irish Roots Cafe banner. I found it in the Aug. 21 headlines and archives section.

We've seen this list before. It would be good to see surnames other than the top 10. How about some of the less common ones? Lots of Lynch surnames in America.

I'm always curious about names, so this was very interesting...but I wonder where Lynch fits in there? Guess I'll have to do my own research! LYNCH...anyone out there?

The Name Walsh. In Gaelic it is "Breathnach" when translated to English means "Judge". I can't figure that one out. Sullivan of course Sulibhain' translated means One Eye.

Where's the Lynch clan, especially the ones like my family that controlled County Galway?

I keep seeing this same type of article every so often on IC. The top ten of this or the top ten of that. What about a series of articles that covers ALL of something instead of repeating the same over and over? Why not look at your subscriber list and do a series on those names ten at a time?

Ms.ANTOINETTE, Thanks for these...and could you go on to the next ten? Hopefully my mother's Quinn name will be found among the lesser frequent ones. This is where I believe I can trace my family down to the Phaenius Farsaidh, the scythian chieften or king who invented the aleph beth for the canaanite language of the folk he ruled over. His second son Nial was supposed to have married a Pharaoh's daughter by the name of Scota, and that the Nile river was named after Nial...though the Egyptians had their own name for the Nile. MY NAME? well it is Hale, the family name of the man who adopted my Cherokee greatgrandfather the son of the widow who married Mr. Hale. I am sort of glad this fellow was English for this reason: While I could accept a Scottish McHale, or just the English Hale, I would rather it not be an Irish O'Hale. I already get a ribbing for having a mother named Mary, who once was Mary Nell Quinn. My grandmother thought to have named her Suzanne so she could have a daughter named Suzy Q...for some reason.