The morning news., 1889-03-29
IRISH FAMILY NAMES.
Wond erful Changes by Which MACS"
and "O's" Have Become Lost.

From the Irish Times.
Family names or hereditary surnames
first became fixed in Ireland in the reign OF
Brian Borumha, between the years 1907
and 1014. For long timeit was a popular
error that the prefix 30" to a name signi.
fled that the bearer was of royal descent,
while a Mac had no sDecial significance OF
high social standing. This error has been
expo by showing thai several kings in
Ireland have borne the prefix Of Mac to
their names, while some Of the lowest and
most obscure families bore the prefix 20. y
Wnen slrlames first became hereditary
some families went back several generations
to select an illustrious ancestor from which
to take name Mac signifies son, like
the Anglo-Norman Fitz, a corruption of the
Latin fLtlS, a son. "On was taken to signify
that the name cane from grandfather or
more remote ancestor.
Appended is a list of some of the popular
names to be met with every day, showing
the transition Of the name from the ancient
irish into the present English. In some in-
stances several different namcs wera made
from the same lr h name. Generally the
change was m de into something bearing
similar sound to that of the original
Mac and OGown into Smith, MacIntyre
into Carpenter, MacSpalla o into Spenc sr,
MacCongry into L'Estranga, MacCrossan
into Crosby, ORsilly into Ridley, OD on-
nell into Daniels, O'Sullivan into Silvers
and Sllvan, MacCarthy into Ca ter, O'Neil
into Neil or Neel Mac Conava was cor
rupted into Conover, and anglcsed into
Ford. In the same way O'Marcacaain was
translated into Ryder aud anglicised Mark
ham. MacConry was corrupted into
Conroy, and erroneously translated
into King. Rogers is an argiciza-
tim Of the Irish rame MacRory
Matthews is the English of Mac Mahon Mac
Cawell is the original from which has
been corrupted Cam )hill, Cambsll, Howe
and Caulheld. MacOscar in like manner
has been altered into Cosgrove aud Costello.
McMurtage to Mortimer, O'Cleary to
Clarke and Clerkin, OCindellan to Gun
ningham. The O'Dorcys, of Galway, al
tered their name to Darcy and D'OrSaV to
give the impression that they were descend
ants of the Anglo-Norman family of D'Arcy.
O'Dule ~ is the original from which is de-
rived Delany and DeLani
Many Irish names have been abbreviated,
not through any desire on the part of the
bearer to hids their origin, but in order to
render the names more pronounceable in
English. OF these MacEoo laidh is a sample
and is now known as Mexico n and Keogh.
MacGilapatrick, to Fitz )atrick: MacGilla-
roe, to Gilroy and Kilroy; MacGils
Brighde, to Mcbride; MacGilatinen,
W A4Ahhpi duu 1dcOlldTus mdClteD-
mis-, to Ennis and Guinness; O'Mulryan,
to Ryan; MacMurragh, to Kavanagh
The original Irish Of Alurphy is O'Mur.
chadha, it was anglicised O'Murchoe, and
latterly Murphy. Connolly aud Connolly
are derived from O'Conghalaigh; Clancy is
Mac Flannchadha in Irisl, and was angli-
cised MacCisncy aud then Clancy; me
family once owned the barony Of Ross
clogher i'll the county Of Leltrim. Tuomy
COmqS from Hpath- Nft,,fr,n,. 81
name Of two barjnies il Kings county, and
was afterward ad lpted by tue family bear
ing the irish name o. Maoilchein Scully is
derived from OScol lgne. Quinn comes
from OCulnn, family once mum )rous aud
powerful in the county Tyrone. Phelan
and Whelan are each c)rruptions Of
OFaolian; O'Toole in IRISH is O'Tuathail.
sullivan, with and without the . prehxed
is derived from O'Sullebhain.
The original Kelly, in Irish O'Ceallaigh
was desce AIDED from Aedh-Slalne, monarcI
OF Ireland. s last representative was Con
galach O'Kelly, lord OF Bregia, who died in
l@92. The family afterward became scat
tered, so that there are but few parishes in
the country but have some OF these kellys.
1t will be a surprise to many to learn
that Byron is not an English name. but a
corruption of the ancient lame of OBeirue,
another corruption of the name bel lg
Bruin. OBrollaghan is the original Of
Bradley, while in Scotland it is made
Brodie. Harrington IS an anglicised form
OF OHeraghty and O'Hennessy. O'Hiom.
hair was changed to Ivers by the
gentry and to Howard by tie
peasantry OMulligan ia the same
way has been changed to Molvueaux d
Baldwin. O'Honeen to Green, O'Rourks ~
Rookie, MacFirDis ~ Forbes, O'CJrhA n To
Corbett, O'Griey yhan to Graham, O'Heyne
to HindeS, HyneS, Hine TO Haynes or