Irish Roots
in the Pale to adopt English customs
and even surname forms, there was
no general law on the statute book
against the use of O and Mac as such.
While it is true that there has been a
tendency to restore formerly disused
prefixes, this does not apply equally
to all surnames, as shown by the
appended table, based on the writer’s
survey of telephone directory entries
in the 1990s and Robert E Matheson’s
famous study of birth registration
surnames for the year 1890. Note that
while most Kellys and Byrnes have
not restored the O prefix, there has
been a great increase in the forms
O’Connor and O’Sullivan in the
century after 1890. It can be seen that
the tendency to drop Mac was less
marked, so that the rate of re-adoption
of this prefix is not as dramatic.
It is true that the anglicisation of
Gaelic surnames over the centuries has
been a cause of much confusion. Hence
most Irish Clarkes and Boyles are not of
English ancestry as the surname forms
would suggest, but are bearers of the
Gaelic surnames Ó Cléirigh (also more
rationally anglicised as O’Clery) and Ó
Baoighill. Courtney/Curnane mentioned
at the beginning of this article represents
another case where the Gaelic surname
Ó Curnáin was assimilated to a separate
name of Norman origin as well as being
given a more rational anglicisation.
2013 Number 3
Use of O and Mac prefixes
Surname
% using
prefix 1990s
(O)Kelly
(O)Connor
(O)Sullivan
(O)Byrne
(O)Byrne
(O)Brien
(O)Neill
(Mc)Carthy
(Mc)Laughlin
(Mc)Mahon
Maguire/McGuire
3
89
89
5
5
98
92
97
92
71
100
Ireland’s Genealogy
bookshop
of all Irish
family history
societies”
April 2011
Bandergast for Prendergast, Senehaw
for Lenehan and Tecumseh for Tennant.
The practical conclusion of all this is that
the genealogist should search records
and databases firstly under the received
form of a surname, with or without an
O or Mac prefix or spelled in a certain
way. If results are negative, the search
should be broadened to include variants
of the surname, which will sometimes
be thrown up by better designed online
databases or else can be identified by
reference to works such as MacLysaght’s
The Surnames of Ireland or Mathesons’s
Surnames in Ireland. Which leads us back
to the proposition that we genealogists
should not have an inflexible approach
to ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ spellings of our
surnames.
Sean Murphy teaches Adult Education
classes in genealogy at University College
Dublin - see below for more details.
Adult Education Classes,
Genealogy, UCD, Dublin
Enrolment is now in progress
for Adult Education classes in
genealogy given by Sean Murphy,
which are due to commence in
University College Dublin in late
September. Prospective students
have the choice of applying for
admission to Module 1 of a sixmodule, three-year Certificate in
Genealogy/Family History course,
which involves submission of
assignments, or a stand-alone
Introduction to Genealogy module
which does not involve assessment.
“The great granddaddy
The Irish Times
1
32
14
1
1
67
63
85
87
74
100
Source: ‘A Survey of Irish Surnames 1992-97’,
http://homepage.eircom.net/~seanjmurphy/studies/surnames.pdf
events big and small, and had another
collective naming choice been made the
present article might have been signed
Sean O’Murrough. Interestingly, with
one or two historical exceptions such
as the famous courtesan Marie-Louise
O’Murphy, Murphys have not been
inclined to restore the O prefix.
While there is much less variation and
more standardisation in the spelling of
Irish surnmames today, there are still
cases where consistency has not been
achieved, eg, Ahearn/Ahearne/Ahern,
Cavanagh/Kavanagh, (O)Donoghoe/
It should also be noted that some
Donoghue/Donohoe, Malloy/Molloy/
surnames are simply not subject to
Mulloy. Irish surnames of non-Gaelic
variation, the classic example being
origin are also affected by the problem
Murphy from Ó Murchadha, where
of variation, eg, Allison/Ellison, Carr/
for some reason the more rational
Kerr, Cockburn/Coburn. There is
form Murrough, which is found in the
a new source of exotic variants of
MacMurrough version of the surname,
IGRS Irish Roots ad2:Layout 1 29/1/13 Irish surnames,1namely, inaccurate
21:53 Page
did not take hold. There is a random or
transcriptions in online databases, eg,
unpredictable dimension to historical
John Grenham FIGRS, MAPGI
% using
prefix 1890
HERALDIC ARTISTS
3 Nassau Street, Dublin 2.
Tel: (01)679 7020
email: [email protected]
9
Further information on these
genealogy classes, together with a
wide range of Open Learning and
Access courses in history, literature
and the arts, can be obtained on
the UCD Adult Education website
at
http://www.ucd.ie/adulted/