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Where does your surname come from?

135

Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,487 ✭✭✭aDeener


    theacher wrote: »
    where does crilly come from?

    i know its too easy but sure what the hell;
    craggy island


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,415 ✭✭✭The Pontiac


    The Roche's were Anglo-Norman invaders to these shores. It's interesing to note where the surname actually orginated. The original Roche's used to live in a rocky area, apparently. :rolleyes:
    The Roche family appears to originally have lived in a rocky area or near some notable rock. Source


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 873 ✭✭✭InKonspikuou2


    My last name is 2 last names although in Ireland i generally use just the Irish one. Apparently it's the old Irish word for victorious.

    My other name is Quiróz which is possibly derived from the Galician word queiroa which means heather. Something to do with being from a place where the heather grows. Anyways it was a name the spanish brought to Colombia during their imperialistic days.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,661 ✭✭✭✭Helix


    mines not in it


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,415 ✭✭✭The Pontiac


    tman wrote: »
    French origins?!?!?!

    I fell so dirty:(

    ***washes self with the rough side of a dish sponge***

    Careful Now. Nothing wrong French origins. :)


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,531 ✭✭✭Little Acorn


    Helix wrote: »
    mines not in it

    yeah,same here. mine is not in it either.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 15,515 ✭✭✭✭admiralofthefleet


    13th century london apparently:

    Kean, Keane, Kane, Keen, Keene etc., may be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic O' Cathain "descendant of Cathan", a personal name from a diminutive of "Cath" meaning "battle".


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,526 ✭✭✭m@cc@


    theacher wrote: »
    where does crilly come from?

    The Balkans isn't it?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,886 ✭✭✭Darlughda


    weepee wrote: »
    I searched the surname 'Mallon' and was informed it originated from O'Malone in Connact.
    What nonsense, its an Ulster name, from Tyrone since the year dot.

    You are correct as far as I know Mallon is a derivitave of the O' Mullen clan who were big Uladh names.

    And by the way, it is no great insult being originally from Connacht. The best of the ancient Irish warriors came from there!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,850 ✭✭✭FouxDaFaFa


    Recorded in many spellings including O' Garvey, MacGarvey, Garvey, and Garvie, this is an Irish surname. It predates the 1170 a.d. Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland. It was originally a descriptive nickname deriving from the word "gabbh" and literally describes one who was "rough and tough!"
    I'm a native!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,276 ✭✭✭Alessandra


    From the Vikings apparently.


  • Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 5,028 Mod ✭✭✭✭G_R


    a truly famous surname whose Gaelic-Celtic ancestry pre-dates Christianity

    :cool:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,670 ✭✭✭Doc


    Mine is an ancient Irish surname and its descent is from the son of Fionghuine, King of Munster, who died in the year 902 a.d. But I knew all this already as my dad has reserched our family tree/ history.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,494 ✭✭✭citizen_p


    This interesting and long-established surname, of Irish origin, is an Anglicized form of the name "O'Cearbhaill", derived from the prefix "O", meaning "grandson of", and the Gaelic personal name "Cearbhall" which was possibly a byname for a butcher or a fierce warrior, deriving from "cearbh", hacking. There were six distinct septs of O'Carroll in Ireland, namely in Counties Kerry, Offaly, Monaghan, Tipperary, Leitrim and Louth. Carroll has a high position in the list of most numerous surnames in Ireland, approximately sixteen thousand, which range from Counties Cork, Tipperary and Waterford, to Kilkenny. The name dates back to the mid 11th Century (see below), and Alice, daughter of Hugh Carroll, was christened at St. Giles' Cripplegate, London, on September 29th 1609. The most Rev. John Carroll (1735 - 1815) was the first Catholic bishop in America, and the first Archbishop of Baltimore. One Patrick Carroll, aged 54 yrs., a famine emigrant to New York, sailed aboard the "Columbus" from Liverpool, in February 1846, together with his wife, Ann, aged 50 yrs., and his son, William, aged 11 yrs. The Coat of Arms most associated with the name is on a silver shield two red lions combatant supporting a sword erect in pale proper in the dexter chief point a black cross flory, the Crest being on the stump of a tree a falcon rising billed proper charged on the breast with a black cross flory. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Maolsuthain O'Carroll, which was dated 1031, Confessor of Brian Boru and contributor to the "Book of Armagh", during the reign of King William 1 of England, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,547 ✭✭✭Agricola


    Byrne - "an Irish surname of great antiquity. Claiming descent from Bran, the king of Leinster, who died in 1052, this great clan originated in County Kildare where they held extensive territory until the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169 - 1170"

    "
    were particularly noteworthy for their resistance to foreign aggression, and they continued to inaugurate native chiefs up to the end of the 16th Century"




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,670 ✭✭✭Doc


    tman wrote: »
    French origins?!?!?!

    I fell so dirty:(

    ***washes self with the rough side of a dish sponge***

    Dont lie everone knows the French dont wash.;)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,750 ✭✭✭liah


    Oeltjen is mine. I know it's German (Öltjen) and I know what region and town my ancestors are from but I don't know of the actual meaning.

    All I've found is "North German (Öltjen): patronymic from a pet form of Ulrich (from Germanic patronal name Odalrich)" which is "from the personal name Ulrich, Old High German Odalrīc, composed of the elements odal ‘inherited property’, ‘fortune’ + rīc ‘power’. The name was borne by a 10th-century saint, bishop of Augsburg, whose fame contributed greatly to the popularity of the personal name in German- and Slavic-speaking areas in the Middle Ages"

    ..But I'd say that's a fairly loose meaning.


  • Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 5,028 Mod ✭✭✭✭G_R


    Mousey- wrote: »
    This interesting and long-established surname, of Irish origin, is an Anglicized form of the name "O'Cearbhaill", derived from the prefix "O", meaning "grandson of", and the Gaelic personal name "Cearbhall" which was possibly a byname for a butcher or a fierce warrior, deriving from "cearbh", hacking. There were six distinct septs of O'Carroll in Ireland, namely in Counties Kerry, Offaly, Monaghan, Tipperary, Leitrim and Louth. Carroll has a high position in the list of most numerous surnames in Ireland, approximately sixteen thousand, which range from Counties Cork, Tipperary and Waterford, to Kilkenny. The name dates back to the mid 11th Century (see below), and Alice, daughter of Hugh Carroll, was christened at St. Giles' Cripplegate, London, on September 29th 1609. The most Rev. John Carroll (1735 - 1815) was the first Catholic bishop in America, and the first Archbishop of Baltimore. One Patrick Carroll, aged 54 yrs., a famine emigrant to New York, sailed aboard the "Columbus" from Liverpool, in February 1846, together with his wife, Ann, aged 50 yrs., and his son, William, aged 11 yrs. The Coat of Arms most associated with the name is on a silver shield two red lions combatant supporting a sword erect in pale proper in the dexter chief point a black cross flory, the Crest being on the stump of a tree a falcon rising billed proper charged on the breast with a black cross flory. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Maolsuthain O'Carroll, which was dated 1031, Confessor of Brian Boru and contributor to the "Book of Armagh", during the reign of King William 1 of England, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

    dude, i didnt read all of my history, there isnt a hope in hell im reading all of yours:pac:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 470 ✭✭clikityclak


    Recorded in many spellings including: Laffin, Laffan, Lavin, Lavine, Lavins, Lavan, Laven, Lavens and La Vigne, this is a surname of either Irish or French orgins. If Irish it is a form of the ancient pre 10th century Gaelic O'Laimhin, which translates as 'the descendant of the son of the prince', although as to who the prince was is unclear. In the years before the Norman-English invasion of Ireland in 1170, there were as many as nine kings of Ireland, and no doubt at least an equal number of princes. The clan hails from the region of County Roscommon

    Sounds about right to me!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,749 ✭✭✭✭wes


    Surname: Khan

    This ancient surname has an ancestry which dates back to the earliest of known languages, the Indo-Persian of at least 4000 B.C. It is a contracted form of "Khagan", meaning chief or ruler, and was originally a title borne by the early Mongol leaders. Its most famous holder was the legendary Genghis Khan (see below), who in a twenty year period established the world's greatest empire stretching from Turkey to China. He was followed by his grandson, Kublai Khan, who added China to the Empire and established the Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1388). In the Afghan and Kashmir regions "Khan" was specifically applied to persons of high status, and appeared before the tribal name as in Khushal Khan Khatak. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of More recently the tribal name has been dropped, and this has resulted in a greatly increased popularity of Khan as a surname. Whilst, "Khan" as "Kan" appears in Chinese records in the 15th Century, in Europe it is first found in Holland in 1883, when one Josef Khan was born at Hoogeven. Curiously, the name is recorded in France as Caen or Caan, a Latinized, and probably Crusader variation of 14th Century origins. which was dated Genghis Khan, during the reign of believed to have been born in Asia Minor in 1184, and Chief of the Mongol Empire from 1207 to 1227 A.D. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

    Knew most of that already, but was unaware of the ancient origins of the name.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,488 ✭✭✭pikachucheeks


    theacher wrote: »
    where does crilly come from?

    Craggy Island? :pac:

    Mine's in it, but the explanation was complicated. Basically, it's Anglo-Saxon ... which I already knew.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,886 ✭✭✭Darlughda


    Doc wrote: »
    Mine is an ancient Irish surname and its descent is from the son of Fionghuine, King of Munster, who died in the year 902 a.d. But I knew all this already as my dad has reserched our family tree/ history.

    Them lot! Shower of ....You never know who has ancient pledges to score against the ancestors of old!:eek:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,886 ✭✭✭Darlughda


    I'm not sure if that means I'm evil or black.

    It means you are a descendant of one of dem moors that came to these shores and chatted up the local mimmenz


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,016 ✭✭✭metalfest


    "considered to be historically the most important of all Irish surnames

    I win :pac:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,886 ✭✭✭Darlughda


    Dudess wrote: »
    Something to do with wolves - I can live with that... :cool:

    Me too on the mothers side. Apparently the wolf people were outlawed and many tried to anglicize their name to avoid persecution


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,886 ✭✭✭Darlughda


    Byrne, this is an Irish surname of great antiquity. Claiming descent from Bran, the king of Leinster, who died in 1052, this great clan originated in County Kildare where they held extensive territory until the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169 - 1170, when they migrated to Wicklow where they occupied the country between Rathdrum and Shillelagh

    well who knew, and now we dont have a pot to pIss in :eek:

    Yep the Byrnes and O' Tooles began what we now know as guerilla warfare from the Dublin mountains during the Battle of Rathmines in the 17th Century.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,670 ✭✭✭Doc


    Darlughda wrote: »
    Them lot! Shower of ....You never know who has ancient pledges to score against the ancestors of old!:eek:

    My clan will take on your clan any day of the week sunshine "Strength and Courage are never hard for an (My surname)" [family motto]


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,986 ✭✭✭ottostreet


    Mine is Maher, and comes from the original Meagher clan, which controlled most of Tipperary in the Cromwellian period. That clan then dispersed into Laois, Waterford & Carlow, mine being the Carlow branch. Within a fifteen mile radius, you'll find something like...25 Maher families.

    thank god my gf isn't irish, or i'd always be worried.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,886 ✭✭✭Darlughda


    Doc wrote: »
    My clan will take on your clan any day of the week sunshine "Strength and Courage are never hard for an (My surname)" [family motto]


    Hey sweetpea,

    Truth conquers.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,310 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Sweet. My ancestors were sons of a "fair-haired person", ie: Viking :D

    Seems they liked to travel, with one becoming a commander in the Russian Navy, in the late 1800's.

    The name is fairly common in Cork, Kerry, and Limerick. Heck, my granddad and his neighbour were of the same surname, but were not related (even if you go back several generations), which is a bit odd.

    It seems a lot of my family were hanged for pissing off the english during the last 400 years.


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