How do I find my surname, its Irish form, meaning and heartland counties?
Start on the surname map page and type the name into the explorer, or pick it from the A to Z. Each mapped name opens with its Irish form and what the name means, from Woulfe. Then comes the map: the heartland counties, where the name stood among the county's leading names in 1890, and the counties where it was well represented. Names also carry their rank in 1890 and a note on how concentrated they were. If your spelling fails, try the variants: O and Mac were dropped and restored over the centuries, and many names live under two or three spellings.
Useful pages: The Irish surnames map · Trace your Irish roots · The 1926 Census guide · Coming home · Irish around the world · Plan your journey
Sources
- R. E. Matheson, Special Report on Surnames in Ireland; Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
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