Irish Surnames: Find Where Your Name Comes From
In 1890 the Registrar General counted every surname in Ireland's birth registers. Pick a name and see where it was rooted: the counties where it was a leading name, and where it was strongest of all. This map is a heritage snapshot of 1890, not where names live today.
Worked example: Murphy (Ó Murchadha)
No. 1 of Ireland's surnames in 1890. What it means: ‘Descendant of Murchadh’: Murchadh is an old personal name meaning ‘sea-warrior’ (muir, sea, + cath, battle).
Strongest in Cork, Wexford and Dublin. Recorded among the leading names of 19 counties in Matheson's 1890 tables, a genuinely widespread name.
Heartland counties in 1890: Cork, Wexford, Dublin, Armagh, Carlow, Kilkenny, Kildare, Louth, Wicklow, Monaghan.
Every surname in the explorer
Use the search or the A–Z dropdown in the explorer above to open any mapped name. Each link here does the same: Acheson, Adair, Adams, Agnew, Ahern, Alexander, Allen, Anderson, Andrews, Armstrong, Atkinson, Bailey, Baird, Baker, Barnes, Barr, Barrett, Barron, Barry, Baxter, Beattie, Beggs, Begley, Behan, Beirne, Bell, Bennett, Bergin, Bermingham, Berry, Bingham, Black, Blair, Blake, Bohan, Boland, Bolger, Bonar, Bourke, Boyce, Boyd, Boylan, Boyle, Bracken, Bradley, Bradshaw, Brady, Brannigan, Breen, Brennan, Breslin, Broderick, Brogan, Brooks, Brophy, Brosnan, Brown, Browne, Bryan, Buckley, Burke, Burns, Butler, Byrne, Cafferky, Cahalane, Cahill, Cain, Cairns, Caldwell, Callaghan, Callan, Callanan, Cameron, Campbell, Canavan, Cannon, Carberry, Carey, Carmody, Carney, Carolan, Carr, Carroll, Carson, Carter, Carton, Carty, Casey, Cassidy, Caulfield, Chambers, Christy, Clancy, Clarke, Cleary, Clements, Clifford, Coakley, Cochrane, Cody, Coen, Coffey, Cole, Coleman, Colgan, Collins, Comerford, Condon, Conlon, Conneely, Connell, Connolly, Connor, Connors, Conroy, Conry, Conway, Cooke, Cooney, Cooper, Corbett, Corcoran, Corr, Corrigan, Corry, Cosgrave, Cosgrove, Costello, Cotter, Coughlan, Coulter, Courtney, Cowan, Cox, Coyle, Coyne, Craig, Crawford, Crean, Cregan, Cremin, Cronin, Crosbie, Crotty, Crowe, Crowley, Cullen, Cullinane, Cummins, Cunningham, Curley, Curran, Curry, Curtin, Cusack, Dalton, Daly, Darcy, Davidson, Davis, Davison, Dawson, Deane, Deasy, Deegan, Delaney, Delany, Dempsey, Dennehy, Desmond, Devany, Devine, Devlin, Dillon, Dinneen, Diver, Dixon, Dodds, Doherty, Dolan, Donaghy, Donaldson, Donegan, Donnellan, Donnelly, Donoghue, Donohoe, Donovan, Doody, Doogan, Doolan, Dooley, Doran, Douglas, Dowd, Dowling, Downes, Downey, Doyle, Driscoll, Duff, Duffy, Duggan, Dunbar, Duncan, Dunleavy, Dunlop, Dunne, Durkan, Dwyer, Early, Edwards, Egan, Elliott, Ellis, English, Ennis, Enright, Evans, Fagan, Fahy, Fallon, Fanning, Farrell, Farrelly, Faulkner, Feely, Feeney, Fegan, Fenlon, Fennell, Ferguson, Ferris, Ferry, Field, Finegan, Finlay, Finn, Finnerty, Fisher, Fitzgerald, Fitzpatrick, Fitzsimons, Flaherty, Flanagan, Flannery, Fleming, Flood, Flynn, Fogarty, Folan, Foley, Foran, Forde, Forsythe, Foster, Fox, Frazer, Friel, Fullerton, Fulton, Furlong, Gaffney, Gallagher, Galligan, Gallivan, Galvin, Gamble, Gannon, Gardiner, Garvey, Gaughan, Gavin, Geoghegan, Geraghty, Gibbons, Giblin, Gibney, Gibson, Gill, Gillan, Gillespie, Gilligan, Gilmartin, Gilmore, Gleeson, Glennon, Glynn, Goggin, Goodwin, Gordon, Gorman, Gormley, Gough, Goulding, Grace, Grady, Graham, Grant, Gray, Greany, Green, Greer, Gregg, Gribben, Griffin, Grimes, Grogan, Hackett, Hagan, Hall, Halligan, Halloran, Halpin, Hamill, Hamilton, Hand, Hanlon, Hanly, Hanna, Hannigan, Hannon, Hanrahan, Hanratty, Harkin, Harper, Harrington, Harris, Harrison, Hart, Harte, Hartnett, Harvey, Haugh, Hawthorne, Hayden, Hayes, Healy, Heaney, Heffernan, Hegarty, Hehir, Henderson, Henehan, Hennessy, Henry, Herbert, Herlihy, Herron, Hewitt, Hickey, Higgins, Hill, Hoare, Hoey, Hogan, Holland, Holmes, Hopkins, Horan, Horgan, Houlihan, Houston, Howard, Hughes, Humphries, Hunt, Hunter, Hurley, Hussey, Hutchinson, Hyland, Hynes, Irvine, Irwin, Jackson, Jamison, Jenkins, Jennings, Johnson, Johnston, Jones, Jordan, Joyce, Judge, Kane, Kavanagh, Keane, Keany, Kearney, Kearns, Keating, Keeffe, Keegan, Keenan, Kehoe, Kelleher, Kelly, Kenneally, Kennedy, Kenny, Keogh, Keohane, Kernaghan, Kerr, Kerrigan, Keys, Kidd, Kiely, Kiernan, Killeen, King, Kingston, Kinsella, Kirby, Kirk, Kirkpatrick, Kirwan, Knox, Kyle, Kyne, Lacey, Lally, Lalor, Lamb, Lane, Lappin, Larkin, Lavelle, Laverty, Lavery, Lavin, Lawler, Lawless, Lawlor, Leahy, Leary, Leavy, Lebane, Lee, Leech, Lennon, Leonard, Lewis, Linehan, Little, Livingston, Logan, Logue, Lonergan, Long, Loughlin, Loughran, Lowry, Lucey, Lydon, Lynch, Lyons, Macken, Madden, Madigan, Magee, Magill, Maguire, Maher, Mahon, Mahony, Malley, Mallon, Malone, Mangan, Manning, Mannion, Marron, Marshall, Martin, Mason, Masterson, Mathews, Maxwell, May, McAdam, McAllister, McAneny, McArdle, McAteer, McAuley, McAuliffe, McBride, McCabe, McCafferty, McCaffrey, McCann, McCarron, McCartan, McCarthy, McCartney, McClean, McClelland, McClintock, McCloskey, McClure, McComb, McConnell, McConville, McCormack, McCormick, McCourt, McCoy, McCracken, McCrea, McCready, McCrory, McCullough, McCutcheon, McDaid, McDermott, McDonagh, McDonald, McDonnell, McDowell, McElhinney, McEvoy, McFadden, McFarland, McGarry, McGarvey, McGinley, McGinn, McGlynn, McGoldrick, McGonigle, McGovern, McGowan, McGrath, McGuigan, McGuinness, McGurk, McHale, McHenry, McHugh, McIlroy, McIlwaine, McInerney, McIntyre, McKay, McKee, McKeever, McKenna, McKeown, McKinley, McKinney, McKnight, McLaughlin, McMahon, McManus, McMaster, McMenamin, McMillen, McMorrow, McMullan, McNally, McNamara, McNamee, McNeill, McNicholas, McNulty, McParland, McQuaid, McQuillan, McShane, McSharry, McSweeney, McTernan, McVeigh, McWilliams, Meade, Meara, Meehan, Millar, Milligan, Mills, Minihane, Mitchell, Moffatt, Mohan, Molloy, Moloney, Monaghan, Montgomery, Mooney, Moore, Moorhead, Moran, Morgan, Moriarty, Moroney, Morris, Morrison, Morrissey, Morrow, Morton, Moynihan, Mulcahy, Muldoon, Mulholland, Mullan, Mullany, Mulligan, Mullin, Mullins, Mulnall, Mulvey, Murdock, Murphy, Murray, Murtagh, Nagle, Naughton, Neary, Neilan, Nelson, Nesbitt, Neville, Newell, Newman, Nicholl, Nicholson, Nixon, Noble, Nolan, Noonan, Noone, Nugent, O'Brien, O'Day, O'Dea, O'Donnell, O'Donoghue, O'Dwyer, O'Hara, O'Hare, O'Neill, O'Reilly, O'Riordan, O'Shaughnessy, O'Toole, Orr, Owens, Palmer, Parker, Patterson, Patton, Payne, Pearson, Pender, Phelan, Phillips, Pierce, Plunkett, Pollock, Porter, Power, Prendergast, Price, Purcell, Quigley, Quinlan, Quinn, Quirke, Rafferty, Raftery, Rainey, Ramsay, Rankin, Rea, Reddy, Redmond, Regan, Reid, Reidy, Reilly, Reynolds, Rice, Richardson, Riordan, Roberts, Robinson, Roche, Rogers, Ronayne, Rooney, Ross, Roulston, Rourke, Rowan, Ruane, Russell, Rutherford, Ryan, Saunders, Savage, Scanlon, Scannell, Scott, Scully, Sexton, Shanahan, Shannon, Sharkey, Shaughnessy, Shaw, Shea, Sheehan, Sheehy, Sheeran, Sheridan, Shields, Shiels, Shine, Short, Simpson, Sinnott, Slattery, Sloan, Small, Smith, Somers, Speers, Spelman, Spence, Spillane, Stack, Stafford, Stanton, Stapleton, Steele, Stenson, Stephens, Stevenson, Stewart, Stokes, Sullivan, Sutton, Sweeney, Taggart, Tate, Taylor, Thomas, Thompson, Thornton, Tierney, Tighe, Timmins, Tobin, Todd, Toner, Toole, Towey, Travers, Traynor, Treacy, Troy, Tully, Turner, Twomey, Tyrrell, Vaughan, Wade, Waldron, Walker, Wall, Wallace, Walsh, Ward, Warren, Waters, Watson, Webb, Weir, Welsh, West, Whelan, White, Wilkinson, Williams, Williamson, Willis, Wilson, Woods, Wright, Wylie, Wynne, Young.
How this map works
In 1890 the Registrar General for Ireland, R. E. Matheson, analysed the year's birth indexes and published the results in his Special Report on Surnames in Ireland. The Irish forms and meanings come from Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames (1923). “Heartland” means the name stood among the county's very top names in 1890, or Matheson listed the county as one where it was principally found; “well represented” means it appeared among the county's leading names. Matheson used the county names of his day: his King's County is today's Offaly, and Queen's County is Laois.
Distribution: R. E. Matheson, Special Report on Surnames in Ireland (1890 birth indexes). Irish forms and name lore after Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923). Both works are in the public domain.
Questions, answered
Where does the surname map data come from?
From two public-domain works: R. E. Matheson's Special Report on Surnames in Ireland, the Registrar General's analysis of the 1890 birth indexes, and Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames (1923) for the Irish forms and meanings. Every tier on the map traces back to a table in Matheson's report.
Does the map show where surnames are today?
No. It is a heritage snapshot of 1890, before a century of emigration, city growth and movement reshuffled the names. For tracing roots, that is arguably the more useful map: it shows where the name was rooted in the generation many families left Ireland.
What does “heartland” mean here?
A heartland county is one where the surname stood among the county's very top names in the 1890 birth registers (roughly its top three, or close to the county leader's count), or where Matheson himself listed it as principally found. “Well represented” means it appeared among the county's leading names. A county shown in neither tier may still have held the name in smaller numbers; Matheson only published each county's leading names.
My surname isn't listed. Why not?
The map now covers 795 surnames: the 100 commonest of 1890 and the next most numerous names from Matheson's own county tables. His report covers around 2,500 names in all, so some names aren't mapped yet; the request form on this page is how new names get researched.