Know any good Irish names?

ha ha. Just thinking about the Shaws grocery store that is close to me. The store manager's name is actually Shaw! Thanks, Forgotten Memories, I'll keep that in mind.

 

Mc is as Irish as an O. McDonald is as Irish as O'Donnell for example. MacDonald is Scots. There are a lot of shared names because the Scots came from Ireland.

Whilst it wouldn't work 100% of the time it is as accurate as willy nilly sticking an O in front of an Irish name. Especially in the 18th Century before the Potato Famine caused the mass emigration.

Most of the Irish names in my family involve neither -

 

Nor in mine. My Irish surname has no O' or Mc, and it doent end in a y like Murphy or Dunahy either. My point was that you seemed to be implying there was a 1:1 correspondence between any MacName and a corresponding McName.

In fact, the Mc vs Mac isn't iroclad, either. If you look up McDougall, you will find it identified with Scottish, not Irish, ancestry, despite the Mc prefix. There probably is an Irish influence at work here, but the family line is Scottish, not Irish.

 

My Irish ancestors are Callahans. So much for stereotypes

 

You are right I didn't intend it to be ironclad as indeed the Scots are Irish Things become blurred when the islands get involved for example, as some have been Irish, Viking and Scots. In the case of the Shetland Isles Norwegian. And in fact a good Scots name would work for some Irish people for various reasons

McDougal appears to be connected to the Danes so therefore probably has connections to some of the smaller islands. You are right though it is an anomally - and would only work for a Scots overlord along the lines of the Rackrents.

However the general rule is Mc's are Irish, Mac's Scots.

Mine are Herberts, Fagans, Howletts, Smiths. Callahan is very Irish.

 

Great thank you all. Charlotte, can I ask a question?

In theory, would O'Sullivan be wrong?


You know, I'm starting to second guess myself here. You could probably give me a more authentic name, since I don't know very much about origins. Any suggestions?

 

No you get O'Sullivans. There was a Joseph O'Sullivan born in County Antrim in 1835

And I know a bit late but even better for you
one Joseph John O'Sullivan born 24 JUN 1865 0124, Cork, Cork, Ireland - looks like because of the time he may have been a twin. His parents Michael O'Sullivan and mother Mary Catherine Hume - he had an older sister Bridget Catherine can find no twin (EDIT). Although with his sister and mother would suggest Roman Catholic in name.

EDIT There are O'Sullivans in Cork I have found as early as 1194

 

Thank you! I think I will go with Joseph O' Sullivan.
Charlotte, if you go to my profile, I have a few more questions.

Oh, thank you. It's settled then. O'Sullivan!

 

in re the 'o' question, when the irish left the auld sod in times gone by, they often dropped the 'o'... that was the case with my irish forbears... my father's grandparents came from dublin and were o'fay there, became just plain 'fay' when they hit the 'golden shores'...

 

Oh, yes, Mammamaia, I've heard of that. Thanks.
I have a brother-in-law, whose grandfather also dropped the 'O' for the family name.

 

Perfect. I'm Irish. There's O'Sullivans in my family. They come from the wilds of West Cork and if you drive around nowadays every shop front still reads O'Sullivan. Just about everyone is an O'Sullivan, and dropping the O would be seen as pretentious.

Joseph is also a good name for the times. As would be Thomas (or even the Irish Tomawsh (pronounced that way, not spelt), or Michael, or Donal (pron: Dohnal), Liam, Sean, Seamus (pron: Shaymus, shortened to Shay), Patrick/Padraig....

Good luck with the novel.

 

My stepfather's first name was O'Neal, but he was definitely not Irish. He was fully Italian American, second generation off the boat.

 

Wow, that's cool, Cog. I come from a very Irish family. My father's parents both had strong Irish backgrounds, but the funny thing is, their surname is not Irish. It actually originates from an Old French personal name!

Talk about a mixed heritage.

 

so, how the heck did he get a moniker like o'neal and not salvatore, or carmine?...

 

No clue. His mama, Adeline, was not someone you asked questions of (neither was O'Neal, for that matter. He was a jerk, putting it nicely).

My best guess is decided to Americanize her son's name.

 

even 'adeline' isn't italian, so i guess cross-ethnic-naming ran in the family! ;-)

my mom's italian/sicilian parents who came through ellis island were more traditional, naming her theresa... despite that, her mother was always called 'grandma caroline' vs my dad's second generation german mom, 'grandma lucy' even though it was 'carolina' on her birth certificate [if she had one...coming from sicily that wasn't a given]...

and my uncle 'sam' was really a salvatore, other uncles included bob and ralph, so i guess my mother and her siblings were the name-americanizers, wanting to not be taken for immigrants themselves...