Irish genealogy
Encyclopedia
Irish genealogy is the study of individuals and/or families who originated on the island of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

Origins

Genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...

 was cultivated since at least the start of the early Irish historic era. Upon inauguration
Inauguration
An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....

, Bards and poets are believed to have recited the ancestry of an inaugurated king to emphasise his hereditary right to rule. With the transition to written culture, oral history was preserved in the monastic settlements. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Dáibhí Ó Cróinín is an academic Irish historian, the current Professor of History at the National University of Ireland, Galway . M.Phil., Ph.D. , and Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is a grandson of Elizabeth Cronin , an Irish traditional singer...

 believed that Gaelic
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....

 genealogies came to be written down with or soon after the practise of annalistic records, annals been kept by monks to determine the yearly chronology
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...

 of feast days (see Irish annals
Irish annals
A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...

).

Its cultivation reached a height during the Late Medieval Era with works such as Leabhar Ua Maine
Leabhar Ua Maine
Leabhar Ua Maine is an Irish genealogical compilation, created c...

, Senchus fer n-Alban
Senchus fer n-Alban
The Senchus Fer n-Alban is an Old Irish medieval text, believed to have been compiled in the 10th century. It may have been derived from earlier documents of the 7th century which are presumed to have been written in Latin...

, Book of Ballymote
Book of Ballymote
The Book of Ballymote , named for the parish of Ballymote, County Sligo, was written in 1390 or 1391....

, De Shíl Chonairi Móir, Book of Leinster
Book of Leinster
The Book of Leinster , is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled ca. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18...

, Leabhar Cloinne Maoil Ruanaidh
Leabhar Cloinne Maoil Ruanaidh
Leabhar Cloinne Maoil Ruanaidh, or the Book of Mac Dermot, is the title given by Nollaig Ó Muraíle to "a collection of genealogies sometimes referred to as 'The Book of Mac Dermot' ..." which now forms the fourth and most significant part - 'd' - of RIA MS 539 [D i 3].A colophon on folio 43r reads...

and the Ó Cléirigh Book of Genealogies
Ó Cléirigh Book of Genealogies
The O'Clery Book of Genealogies, aka Royal Irish Academy Ms. 23 D 17Written by Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh, one of the Four Masters, who was transported in the 1650's to Ballyacroy, County Mayo, "under the guidance of Rory O'Donnell, son of Col. Manus O'Donnell, slain at Benburb, 1646."Upon his death...

. This tradition of scholarship reached its zenith
Zenith
The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e...

 with Leabhar na nGenealach
Leabhar na nGenealach
Leabhar na nGenealach is a massive genealogical collection written mainly in the years 1649 to 1650, at the college-house of St. Nicholas's church, Galway, by Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh. He continued to add material until at least 1666, five years before he was murdered in 1671...

, composed mainly between 1649–1650 in Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

.

Genealogy had at first served a purely serious purpose in determining the legal rights of related individuals to land and goods. Under the Brehon Laws
Brehon Laws
Early Irish law refers to the statutes that governed everyday life and politics in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion of 1169, but underwent a resurgence in the 13th century, and survived into Early Modern Ireland in parallel with English law over the...

, ownership of land was determined by Agnatic succession
Agnatic seniority
Agnatic seniority is a patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons. A monarch's children succeed only after the males of the elder generation have all been exhausted...

, female ownership been severely limited.

Over time, genealogy was pursued for its own merits by the Gaelic learned classes. From c. 1100, various families such as Ó Cléirigh
Ó Cléirigh
Ó Cléirigh is the surname of a learned Irish family whose members appear in historical records dating to the mid-Medieval Period. In the centuries prior to the historical era, they had been rulers of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne, a kingdom in what is now the south of County Galway, but were subsequently...

, Mac Fhirbhisigh, Ó Duibhgeannáin, Mac Aodhagáin
Mac Aodhagáin
Mac Aodhagáin was the name of an Irish family of Brehons who were hereditary lawyers - firstly to the Ó Conchobhair Kings of Connacht, and later to the Burkes of Clanricarde....

 and Mac an Bhaird
Mac an Bhaird
The Mac an Bháird family was one of the learned families of late medieval Ireland. The name has evolved over many centuries, the anglicized forms coming down to us as MacAward, McWard, MacEward, MacEvard, Macanward, M'Ward, and its most commonly used variant today: Ward...

 became professional historians. They were often employed by ruling families, the most important of whom included Ó Conchobhair
O'Conor Don
The Ó Conchubhair Donn is the hereditary Prince and Chief of the Name of the Royal Family of Connacht, the Clan Ó Conchubhair.-Overview:...

, Ó Neill
O'Neill dynasty
The O'Neill dynasty is a group of families that have held prominent positions and titles throughout European history. The O'Neills take their name from Niall Glúndub, an early 10th century High King of Ireland from the Cenél nEógain...

, Ó Domhnaill
O'Donnell dynasty
O'Donnell , which is derived from the forename Domhnaill were an ancient and powerful Irish family, kings, princes, and lords of Tír Chonaill in early times, and the chief allies and sometimes...

, Ó Cellaigh
Clan Kelly
Clan Kelly is a Scottish clan. The clan does not have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, therefore the clan has no standing under Scots Law. Clan Kelly is considered an armigerous clan, meaning that it is considered to have had at one time a chief who possessed the chiefly arms,...

, Mac Murchadha Caomhánach
Kavanagh (surname)
Kavanagh or Kavanaugh is a surname of Irish origin, Caomhánach in Irish Gaelic. It is properly Mac Murchadha Caomhánach , but is often now rendered 'Caomhánach' or rarely 'Ó Caomhánaigh'...

, Mac Carthaigh
MacCarthy dynasty
The MacCarthy dynasty was one of Ireland's greatest medieval dynasties. It was and continues to be divided into several great branches. The MacCarthy Reagh, MacCarthy of Muskerry, and MacCarthy of Duhallow dynasties were the three most important of these, after the central or MacCarthy Mór...

, Ó Briain, Ó Mael Sechlainn
McLoughlin
McLoughlin is a Gaelic-Irish surname.-Origins:McLoughlin - is the Modern English form of the surnames for two different, but distantly related septs, both of considerable importance to Irish history. 'Mc' is an abbreviation of 'Mac' meaning 'son'/ 'son of'...

, Mac Giolla Padraig. It also became pervasive among the Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...

, with the recording of the family trees of FitzGerald, Butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...

, Burke, Plunkett
Plunkett
Plunkett, a surname originating in Ireland, and of Norse or Norman origin, may be spelled Plunkett, Plunket, Plunkit, Plunkitt, Plonkit, Plonkitt, Plonket, Plonkett, or Plunceid, and may refer to:* Baron Plunket, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom...

, Nugent, Bermingham
Bermingham
Bermingham is a surname, and may refer to:* Carl Bermingham ,Irish Electrician* David Bermingham , English banker, part of the Natwest Three* Erin Bermingham , New Zealand cricketer...

 and others.

Some clans, such as Mac Fhirbhisigh and Ó Duibhgeannáin were originally hereditary ecclesiastical families, while others (Ó Cléirigh
Ó Cléirigh
Ó Cléirigh is the surname of a learned Irish family whose members appear in historical records dating to the mid-Medieval Period. In the centuries prior to the historical era, they had been rulers of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne, a kingdom in what is now the south of County Galway, but were subsequently...

, Mac an Bhaird
Mac an Bhaird
The Mac an Bháird family was one of the learned families of late medieval Ireland. The name has evolved over many centuries, the anglicized forms coming down to us as MacAward, McWard, MacEward, MacEvard, Macanward, M'Ward, and its most commonly used variant today: Ward...

, Ó Domhnallain) were dispossed royalty who were forced to find another profession (see also Irish medical families
Irish medical families
Irish medical families were hereditary practitioners of professional medicine in Gaelic Ireland, between 1100 and 1700.-Overview:Professional medical practitioners in the Gaelic world of Ireland and Scotland was mainly the preserve of a small number of learned families who passed the profession...

).

The transmission of this body of lore
Lore
Lore may refer to:* Loré , a city and subdistrict in Lautém District* Lore , the region on each side of a birds face between eye and bill* Lore , a fictional android* Lore Sjöberg, an internet humourist...

 (seanchas) has resulted in detailed knowledge on the origins and history of many of the tribes and families of Ireland. An anglicised tradition has continued since the 17th-century, translating many of the scripts into English. The practise of genealogy continues to be of importance among the Irish and its diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...

. Historians (such as Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Dáibhí Ó Cróinín is an academic Irish historian, the current Professor of History at the National University of Ireland, Galway . M.Phil., Ph.D. , and Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is a grandson of Elizabeth Cronin , an Irish traditional singer...

 and Nollaig Ó Muraíle
Nollaig Ó Muraíle
Nollaig Ó Muraíle is an Irish scholar. He published an acclaimed edition of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's Leabhar na nGenealach in 2004. He was conferred with the honour of admittance to the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.-Life and career:...

) consider the Irish genealogical tradition to have the largest national corpus in Europe.

The Irish Genealogical Doctrine

Over the course of several centuries, an evolving genealogical dogma
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...

 created by the bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...

ic viewed all Irish as descendants of Míl Espáine. This ignored variant traditions, including those recorded in their own works. The reasons behind the doctrine's adoption is rooted in the policies of dynastic and political propaganda.

The doctrine
Doctrine
Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...

 dates from the 10th–12th centuries, as demonstrated in the works of Eochaid ua Flainn (936–1004); Flann Mainistrech
Flann Mainistrech
Flann Mainistrech was an Irish poet and historian.Flann was the son Echthigern mac Óengusso, who had been lector at the monastery of Monasterboice , in Irish Mainistir Buite, whence Flann's byname, meaning "of Monasterboice"...

 (died 25 November 1056); Tanaide (died c. 1075); and Gilla Cómáin mac Gilla Samthainde
Gilla Cómáin mac Gilla Samthainde
Gilla Cóemáin mac Gilla Samthainde, Irish poet, fl. 1072.Author of Annálad anall uile, a poem of fifty-eight quatrains, and a number of other works.-References:...

 (fl. 1072). Many of their compositions were incorporated into the compendium Lebor Gabála Érenn
Lebor Gabála Érenn
Lebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...

.

It was enhanced and embedded in the tradition by successive generations of historians such as Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin
Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin
Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin was an Irish Gaelic poet.-Background:Ó Dubhagáinn was among the first notable members of the bardic family Baile Uí Dhubhagáin , near Loughrea, County Galway...

 (d.1372), Gilla Íosa MacFhirbhisigh (fl. 1390–1418) and Flann Mac Aodhagáin (alive 1640). By 1600 it was refined to the point that certain Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...

 families were given spurious Gaelic ancestors and origin legends, such was their immersion in Gaelic culture.

The first Irish historian who questioned the reliability of such accounts was Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh
Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh
Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh, also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius was an Irish scribe, translator, historian and genealogist...

 (murdered 1671), who's massive Leabhar na nGenealach
Leabhar na nGenealach
Leabhar na nGenealach is a massive genealogical collection written mainly in the years 1649 to 1650, at the college-house of St. Nicholas's church, Galway, by Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh. He continued to add material until at least 1666, five years before he was murdered in 1671...

 included diseperate and variant recensions. Unlike Geoffrey Keating
Geoffrey Keating
Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...

 Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, he did not attempt to synthesise the material into a unified whole, instead recording and transmitting it unaltered. However, historians as late as such as Eugene O'Curry
Eugene O'Curry
-Life:He was born at Doonaha, near Carrigaholt, County Clare, the son of Eoghan Ó Comhraí, a farmer, and his wife Cáit. Eoghan had spent some time as a travelling pedlar and had developed an interest in Irish folklore and music. Unusually for someone of his background, he appears to have been...

 (1794–1862) and John O'Donovan
John O'Donovan (scholar)
John O'Donovan , from Atateemore, in the parish of Kilcolumb, County Kilkenny, and educated at Hunt's Academy, Waterford, was an Irish language scholar from Ireland.-Life:...

 (1806–1861) sometimes accecpted the doctrine and a nationalistic interpretation of Irish history uncritically. During the 20th century the doctrine was reinterpreted by the work of historians such as Eoin MacNeill
Eoin MacNeill
Eoin MacNeill was an Irish scholar, nationalist, revolutionary and politician. MacNeill is regarded as the father of the modern study of early Irish medieval history. He was a co-founder of the Gaelic League, to preserve Irish language and culture, going on to establish the Irish Volunteers...

, T. F. O'Rahilly
T. F. O'Rahilly
Thomas Francis O'Rahilly was an Irish scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly in the fields of Historical linguistics and Irish dialects. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy.-Biography:He was born in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland...

, Francis John Byrne
Francis John Byrne
Francis John Byrne is an Irish historian.Born in Shanghai where his father, a Dundalk man, captained a ship on the Yellow River, Byrne was evacuated with his mother to Australia on the outbreak of World War II...

, Kathleen Hughes (historian)
Kathleen Hughes (historian)
Kathleen Winifred Hughes, born 8 September 1926 in Middlesbrough, died 20 April 1977, was an English historian, her specialisation was Irish ecclesiastical history, particularly the early Christian Church in Ireland....

, and Kenneth Nicholls
Kenneth Nicholls
Kenneth W. Nicholls Irish academic and historian is one of the most widely respected Irish historians of the twentieth century. He came to national and international prominence as the author of the seminal Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages, first published in 1972, and reprinted 2003...

.

See also O'Rahilly's historical model
O'Rahilly's historical model
O'Rahilly's historical model is a theory of Irish prehistory put forward by Celtic scholar T. F. O'Rahilly in 1946. It was based on his study of the influences on the Irish language and a critical analysis of Irish mythology....

, Genetic history of Europe
Genetic history of Europe
The genetic history of Europe can be inferred from the patterns of genetic diversity across continents and time. The primary data to develop historical scenarios coming from sequences of mitochondrial, Y-chromosome and autosomal DNA from modern populations and if available from ancient DNA...

, Genetic history of the British Isles
Genetic history of the British Isles
The genetic history of the British Isles is the subject of research within the larger field of human population genetics. It has developed in parallel with DNA testing technologies capable of identifying genetic similarities and differences between populations...

.

Genealogical compilations

The following are manuscripts consisting of genealogies in whole or part.
  • Leabhar Adhamh Ó Cianáin
    Leabhar Adhamh Ó Cianáin
    Leabhar Adhamh Ó Cianáin or The Book of Adhamh Ó Cianáin, now G 2-3 NLI , is a book written in or about the 1340s by Adhamh Ó Cianáin by and for himself, and out of the book of his teacher, Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin....

  • Book of Ballymote
    Book of Ballymote
    The Book of Ballymote , named for the parish of Ballymote, County Sligo, was written in 1390 or 1391....

  • The Book of the Burkes
    The Book of the Burkes
    The Book of the Burkes, illuminated Gaelic manuscript, late 16th century.A lavishly illuminated 16th century volume of seventy-five folios, twenty-two of which remain blank. It was made for Sir Seaán mac Oliver Burke, the McWilliam of Mayo. Sir Seaán was the McWilliam from 1571 to 1580, the book...

  • Leabhar Cloinne Maoil Ruanaidh
    Leabhar Cloinne Maoil Ruanaidh
    Leabhar Cloinne Maoil Ruanaidh, or the Book of Mac Dermot, is the title given by Nollaig Ó Muraíle to "a collection of genealogies sometimes referred to as 'The Book of Mac Dermot' ..." which now forms the fourth and most significant part - 'd' - of RIA MS 539 [D i 3].A colophon on folio 43r reads...

  • Crichaireacht cinedach nduchasa Muintiri Murchada
    Crichaireacht cinedach nduchasa Muintiri Murchada
    Crichaireacht cinedach nduchasa Muintiri Murchada is a tract concerning the medieval territory called Muintir Murchada, located in County Galway, Ireland.-Outline:...

  • Cuimre na nGenealach
    Cuimre na nGenealach
    Cuimre na nGenealach is an abridgment of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's Leabhar na nGenealach, written at his home in County Sligo in the spring and summer of 1666.-Origins and background:...

  • Leabhar na nGenealach
    Leabhar na nGenealach
    Leabhar na nGenealach is a massive genealogical collection written mainly in the years 1649 to 1650, at the college-house of St. Nicholas's church, Galway, by Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh. He continued to add material until at least 1666, five years before he was murdered in 1671...

  • Great Book of Lecan
    Great Book of Lecan
    The Book of Lecan is a medieval Irish manuscript written between 1397 and 1418. It is in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy....

  • An Leabhar Muimhneach
    An Leabhar Muimhneach
    An Leabhar Muimhneach, also known as The Book of Munster, is an Irish genealogical manuscript.An Leabhar Muimhneach is preserved in a number of 18th century manuscripts, the best been the work of the scribe Richard Tipper of Dublin, 1716-1717...

  • Ó Cléirigh Book of Genealogies
    Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh
    Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh was an Irish historian and genealogist, known in English as Peregrine O'Clery.-Life and work:Ó Cléirigh was a son of Diarmaid Ó Cléirigh, and thus a third-cousin once removed to Brother Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, whom he assisted in compiling the Annals of the Four...

  • Leabhar Ua Maine
    Leabhar Ua Maine
    Leabhar Ua Maine is an Irish genealogical compilation, created c...

  • Rawlinson B 502
  • Senchus fer n-Alban
    Senchus fer n-Alban
    The Senchus Fer n-Alban is an Old Irish medieval text, believed to have been compiled in the 10th century. It may have been derived from earlier documents of the 7th century which are presumed to have been written in Latin...

  • Leabhar Clainne Suibhne
    Leabhar Clainne Suibhne
    Leabhar Chlainne Suibhne is the title of a 16th century Donegal manuscript written in Irish. While there is a substantial amount of religious material, it is principally interesting for containing a historical tract concerning the Clan Suibhne. It is now held in the library of the Royal Irish...

  • Book of Leinster
    Book of Leinster
    The Book of Leinster , is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled ca. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18...

  • Book of Lecan
  • MS H.2.7
  • MS Laud 610

Lost works

  • Psalter
    Psalter
    A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...

     of Cashel
    Cashel
    Cashel is an Anglicised form of the Irish language word Caiseal, meaning "stone ringfort". Cashels were typically built on rocky outcrops.It has given its name to the following places:In Ireland:*Cashel, County Tipperary...

  • Book of Cuanu
    Book of Cuanu
    The Book of Cuanu is a lost Irish Annal, which referred to events from the fifth to seventh centuries. It is referred to on over a dozen occasions in the Annals of Ulster, its entries been terse accounts of battles or notable deaths....

  • Book of Dub Dá Leithe
  • Leabhar Airis Cloinne Fir Bhisigh
  • Leabhar Airisen Ghiolla Iosa Mhec Fhirbhisigh
  • Synchronisms of Flann Mainstreach
  • The Chronicle of Ireland
  • Norse
    Norsemen
    Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...

     and Norse-Gaelic pedigrees from the Great Book of Lecan
    Great Book of Lecan
    The Book of Lecan is a medieval Irish manuscript written between 1397 and 1418. It is in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy....

     (section)

Notable Irish families

  • Barry
    Barry (name)
    Barry is both a given name for males and a surname, being the English form of the Irish names Bareth , de Barra, Barrath, Barenth, Barold, Bearrach or Finbarr. The Irish meaning is spear....

  • Burke
  • Butler
    Butler
    A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...

  • Fitzgerald
  • Fitzpatrick (name)
  • Guinness family
    Guinness family
    The Guinness family is an extensive aristocratic Irish Protestant family noted for their accomplishments in brewing, banking, politics and religious ministry...

  • Kavanagh
  • Kelly
    Kelly
    - People :* Kelly , an English-language unisex given name* Kelly , an English-language version of an Irish surname* Clan Kelly, a Scottish clan* The Kelly Family, an Irish-American-European music group...

  • Kennedy (Ireland)
    Kennedy (Ireland)
    The Kennedy family of Ireland is a royal dynasty founded in the Middle Ages who were Kings of Ormond. Their founder was the nephew of High King Brian Boru . Kennedy is an anglicised form of the Irish "Ó Cinnéide". The name Cinnéide belonged Brian Boru's father Cennétig mac Lorcáin, King of Thomond,...

  • O'Brien dynasty
  • O'Connell of Derrynane
    O'Connell of Derrynane
    The O'Connell family, principally of Derrynane, are a Gaelic Irish noble family of County Kerry in Munster. The principal seat of the senior line of the family was Derrynane House, now an Irish National Monument.-Notable family members:...

  • Ó Dálaigh
    Ó Dálaigh
    The Ó Dálaigh were a learned Irish bardic family who first came to prominence early in the 12th century, when Cú Connacht Ó Dálaigh was described as "The first Ollamh of poetry in all Ireland" .-Name derivation:The name Ó Dálaigh means 'descendant of Dálach'...

  • O'Neill dynasty
    O'Neill dynasty
    The O'Neill dynasty is a group of families that have held prominent positions and titles throughout European history. The O'Neills take their name from Niall Glúndub, an early 10th century High King of Ireland from the Cenél nEógain...

  • Ryan
    Ryan (surname)
    Ryan is a common Irish surname, as well as being a common given name.There are several possible origins for the surname. In certain cases it can be a simplified form of Mulryan...

  • Sullivan

Notable Irish genealogists

  • Eochaid ua Flannacáin
    Eochaid ua Flannacáin
    Eochaid ua Flannacáin, Irish cleric and poet, 935-1004.-Life:Eochaid was the author of more than twenty surviving quasi-historical, genealogical and topographical poems, many of which were incorporated into Lebor Gabala Erenn. He was a member of Clann Sinaich, an eccleiastical family of Armagh. At...

    , 936–1004
  • Flann Mainistrech
    Flann Mainistrech
    Flann Mainistrech was an Irish poet and historian.Flann was the son Echthigern mac Óengusso, who had been lector at the monastery of Monasterboice , in Irish Mainistir Buite, whence Flann's byname, meaning "of Monasterboice"...

    , died 1056
  • Gilla Cómáin mac Gilla Samthainde
    Gilla Cómáin mac Gilla Samthainde
    Gilla Cóemáin mac Gilla Samthainde, Irish poet, fl. 1072.Author of Annálad anall uile, a poem of fifty-eight quatrains, and a number of other works.-References:...

    , fl. 1072
  • Tanaide, died c. 1075
  • Gilla Críst Ua Máel Eóin
    Gilla Críst Ua Máel Eóin
    Gilla Críst Ua Máel Eóin was an Irish historian and Abbot of Clonmacnoise.-Family background:...

    , died 1127
  • Amhlaoibh Mór mac Fir Bhisigh
    Amhlaoibh Mór mac Fir Bhisigh
    Amhlaoibh Mór mac Fir Bhisigh, Irish poet, cleric and historian, died 1138.-Biography:The Annals of Tigernach, sub anno, give his obituary:1138...

    , died 1138.
  • Gilla na Naemh Ua Duinn
    Gilla na Naemh Ua Duinn
    Gilla na Naemh Ua Duinn was an Irish poet, historian, and cleric.The Annals of the Four Masters describe him as:"lector of Inis-Clothrann, a paragon in history and poetry, and a good speaker, sent his spirit to his heavenly patrimony, amid a choir of angels, on the 17th of December, in the...

    , died 1160.
  • Gilla Asalta
    Gilla Asalta
    Gilla Asalta, Irish historian, died 1172.Gilla Asalta appears to be solely known via an obituary in the Annals of Tigernach under the year 1172, which states:...

    , died 1172
  • Amhlaoibh mac Fir Bhisigh, fl. c. 1200
  • Domhnall na Sgoile Mac Fir Bhisigh, fl.c. 1250
  • Giolla Íosa Mac Fir Bisigh
    Giolla Íosa Mac Fir Bisigh
    Gilla Isa Mac Fir Bisigh was an Irish historian, poet, mathematician and astronomer.Sub anno 1301, the Annals of Connacht record the death of Gilla Isa Mac Fir Bisig, ollam of the Ui Fiachrach Muaide, a master of history and tales and poetry, of the Computus and of many other arts.His family, the...

    , died 1301
  • Tanaide Mor mac Dúinnín Ó Maolconaire
    Tanaide Mor mac Dúinnín Ó Maolconaire
    Tanaide Mor mac Dúinnín Ó Maolconaire was a member of the Ó Maolconaire family of Connacht, who served as historians and poets to the Síol Muireadaigh, and their rulers, the Ó Conchubhair Kings of Connacht....

    , died 1310
  • Domnall Ó Cuindlis
    Domnall Ó Cuindlis
    Domnall Ó Cuindlis, Irish historian, died 1342.Ó Cuindlis is described in the Annals of Lough Ce as an eminent historian. In 1342, in unknown circumstances, he was killed by the Uí Díarmata. The latter was the dynastic name of the family of Ó Con Ceanainn, who ruled a district called Ui Diarmata in...

    , died 1342
  • Lúcás Ó Dalláin
    Lúcás Ó Dalláin
    Lúcás Ó Dalláin, Irish historian, fl. 14th-century.Lúcás Ó Dalláin is credited with compiling a 14th-century version of Senchus Fer n-Alban, originally compiled in the 10th-century. Now referred to as Ms...

    , fl. 14th-century.
  • Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin
    Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin
    Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin was an Irish Gaelic poet.-Background:Ó Dubhagáinn was among the first notable members of the bardic family Baile Uí Dhubhagáin , near Loughrea, County Galway...

    , died 1372
  • Adhamh Ó Cianáin
    Adhamh Ó Cianáin
    Adhamh Ó Cianáin was an Irish historian and genealogist.Described in his obituary as "a learned historian" and "a canon" of Lisgoole, "having secured victory of deamon and world"....

    , died 1373
  • Ádhamh Cúisín
    Ádhamh Cúisín
    -Life and career:Ádhamh Cúisín is the name of one of some ten scribes who compiled the Book of Uí Maine.His name seems to be of Norman origin, the Annals of the Four Masters noting that King Ruaidrí Ó Gadhra of Sliabh Lugha was killed in 1256 by "David, son of Richard Cuisin." The Annals of...

    , fl. c. 1400
  • Murchadh Ó Cuindlis
    Murchadh Ó Cuindlis
    Murchadh Ó Cuindlis, Irish scribe, fl. 1398 – 1411.Said to be a native of Bally Lough Deacker in what is now the extreme south of Co. Galway, Ó Cuindlis was one of the scribes of The Book of Lecan under the guidance of Gilla Isa Mor mac Donnchadh MacFhirbhisigh, and later An Leabhar Breac at...

    , fl. 1398 – 1411.
  • Giolla Íosa Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, died 1418
  • Giolla na Naomh Ó hUidhrín
    Giolla na Naomh Ó hUidhrín
    Giolla na Naomh O hUidhrin, Irish historian and poet, died 1420.O hUidhrin is known as the author of Tuilleadh feasa ar Éirinn óigh, a topographical poem of a kind with Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin's Triallam timcheall na Fodla, of which it is a supplement....

    , died 1420
  • Giolla na Naomh Mac Aodhagáin
    Giolla na Naomh Mac Aodhagáin
    Giolla na Naomh Mac Aodhagáin, Irish scribe and historian, died c. 1443.A member of the Mac Aodhagáin family of bards, Giolla na Naomh was a professor of Irish in Ormond; he may have acted in a legal capacity for the Earl of Ormond....

    , died c. 1443
  • Geoffrey Keating
    Geoffrey Keating
    Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...

    , 1569–1644
  • Flann Mac Aodhagáin
    Mac Aodhagáin
    Mac Aodhagáin was the name of an Irish family of Brehons who were hereditary lawyers - firstly to the Ó Conchobhair Kings of Connacht, and later to the Burkes of Clanricarde....

    , alive 1640
  • Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh
    Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh
    Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh was an Irish historian and genealogist, known in English as Peregrine O'Clery.-Life and work:Ó Cléirigh was a son of Diarmaid Ó Cléirigh, and thus a third-cousin once removed to Brother Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, whom he assisted in compiling the Annals of the Four...

    , fl. 1624–1664
  • Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh
    Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh
    Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh, also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius was an Irish scribe, translator, historian and genealogist...

    , compiler of Leabhar na nGenealach
    Leabhar na nGenealach
    Leabhar na nGenealach is a massive genealogical collection written mainly in the years 1649 to 1650, at the college-house of St. Nicholas's church, Galway, by Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh. He continued to add material until at least 1666, five years before he was murdered in 1671...

    , died 1671
  • James Terry
    James Terry
    James Terry was an Irish officer of arms who remained faithful to the Jacobite kings of Britain after their escape to the European continent.-Biography:After the defeat of James II of England, the court went into exile in St Germain, France...

    , Jacobite
    Jacobitism
    Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

     Officer of Arms
    Officer of arms
    An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions:*to control and initiate armorial matters*to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state...

    , died 1725
  • Charles O'Conor (historian)
    Charles O'Conor (historian)
    Charles O'Conor Don, The O'Conor Don, Prince of Connacht of Belanagare was an Irish writer and antiquarian who was enormously influential as a protagonist for the preservation of Irish culture and history in the eighteenth century...

    , 1710–1791
  • John Burke
    John Burke (genealogist)
    John Burke was an Irish genealogist, and the original publisher of Burke's Peerage. He was the father of Sir Bernard Burke, a British officer of arms and genealogist....

    , creator of Burke's Peerage
    Burke's Peerage
    Burke's Peerage publishes authoritative, in-depth historical guides to the royal and titled families of the United Kingdom, such as Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, and of many other countries. Founded in 1826 by British genealogist John Burke Esq., and continued by his son, Sir John...

    , 1787–1848
  • William Betham
    William Betham
    Sir William Betham was an English herald and antiquarian, the Ulster King of Arms from 1820 until his death in 1853. He had previously served as the Deputy Ulster from 1807 to 1820.-Life:...

    , Ulster King of Arms, died 1853
  • John O'Donovan (scholar)
    John O'Donovan (scholar)
    John O'Donovan , from Atateemore, in the parish of Kilcolumb, County Kilkenny, and educated at Hunt's Academy, Waterford, was an Irish language scholar from Ireland.-Life:...

    , 1806–1861
  • John O'Hart
    John O'Hart
    John O'Hart was an Irish genealogist. He was born in Crossmolina, Co. Mayo, Ireland. A committed Roman Catholic, O'Hart originally planned to become Catholic priest but instead spent 2 years as a police officer. He was an Associate in Arts at the Queen's University of Belfast...

    , popular genealogical writer, 1824–1902
  • Edward MacLysaght
    Edward MacLysaght
    Edward MacLysaght was one of the foremost genealogists of twentieth century Ireland. His numerous books on Irish surnames built upon the work of Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames and made him well known to all those researching their family past.-Early life:Edward was born in Flax Bourton...

    , Chief Herald, died 1984
  • Nollaig Ó Muraíle
    Nollaig Ó Muraíle
    Nollaig Ó Muraíle is an Irish scholar. He published an acclaimed edition of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's Leabhar na nGenealach in 2004. He was conferred with the honour of admittance to the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.-Life and career:...

    , academic historian, born 1948

See also

  • National Archives of Ireland
    National Archives of Ireland
    The National Archives of Ireland is the official repository for the state records of the Republic of Ireland. Established by the National Archives Act 1986, it came into existence in 1988, taking over the functions of the State Paper Office and the Public Record Office of Ireland. The National...

  • Irish Manuscripts Commission
    Irish Manuscripts Commission
    The Irish Manuscripts Commission was established in 1928 by the newly founded Irish Free State with the intention of furthering the study of Ireland's manuscript collections and archives...

  • National Library of Ireland
    National Library of Ireland
    The National Library of Ireland is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism is the member of the Irish Government responsible for the library....

  • Genealogical Society of Ireland
    Genealogical Society of Ireland
    Genealogical Society of Ireland is a voluntary non-governmental organisation promoting the study of genealogy, heraldry, vexillology and social history in Ireland and amongst the Irish Diaspora as open access educational leisure pursuits available to all...

  • Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
    Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
    The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a division within the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure ....

  • Chief of the Name
  • The Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains
    The Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains
    The Standing Council of Irish Chiefs and Chieftains is an organisation which was established by the then President of Ireland to bring together the Chiefs of the Name of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland as then recognised by the Chief Herald of Ireland....

  • Clans of Ireland
    Clans of Ireland
    Clans of Ireland is an independent organisation established in 1989 with the purpose of creating and maintaining a Register of Clans.-Background:...

  • Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive
    Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive
    Dublin City Public Libraries represents the largest library authority in the Republic of Ireland, serving over half a million people through a network of 41 branch libraries and service points....

  • Griffith's valuation
    Griffith's valuation
    Griffith's Valuation was a survey of Ireland completed in 1868. -Griffith's background:Richard John Griffith started to value land in Scotland, where he spent two years in 1806-1807 valuing terrain through the examination of its soils...

  • Census of Ireland, 1911
    Census of Ireland, 1911
    The Census of Ireland, 1911, was a census that covered Ireland, and was conducted on Sunday 2 April 1911 as part of a broader Census of the United Kingdom. A census of Ireland had taken place every ten years beginning in 1821 until 1911. The next census would not take place until 1926 due to the...

  • Debrett's
    Debrett's
    Debrett’s is a specialist publisher, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of The New Peerage. The name "Debrett's" honours John Debrett...

  • The Complete Peerage
    The Complete Peerage
    The Complete Peerage The Complete Peerage The Complete Peerage (full title: The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant; first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition revised by the Hon...

  • MS 1467
    MS 1467
    MS 1467, earlier known as MS 1450, is a mediaeval Gaelic manuscript which contains numerous pedigrees for many prominent Scottish individuals and clans. Transcriptions of the genealogies within the text were first published in the early 19th century and have ever since been used by writers on the...

    , allegedly written in 15th-century Ireland.

External links


General reference
  • De Praesulibus Hiberniae Commentarius, Sir James Ware
    Sir James Ware
    Sir James Ware was an Irish historian.-Early life:Born at Castle Street, Dublin, Ware was the eldest son of James Ware, who arrived in Ireland in 1588 as a secretary to Lord Deputy FitzWilliam. His father was knighted by King James I, was elected M.P...

    , 1665
  • Ogygia: seu Rerum Hibernicarum Chronologia & etc. ..., Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh
    Ruaidhri Ó Flaithbheartaigh
    Ruaidhri Ó Flaithbheartaigh, King of Iar Connacht and Chief of the Name, fl. 1244-1273.-Biography:Ruaidhri was a brother of the preceding chief, Morogh...

    , 1685 (published and translated into English by Rev. James Hely, 1783)
  • A dissertation on the origin and antiquities of the antient Scots, and notes, critical and explanatory, on Mr. O'Flaherty's text, Charles O'Conor (historian)
    Charles O'Conor (historian)
    Charles O'Conor Don, The O'Conor Don, Prince of Connacht of Belanagare was an Irish writer and antiquarian who was enormously influential as a protagonist for the preservation of Irish culture and history in the eighteenth century...

    , included in The Ogygia vindicated: against the objections of Sir George Mackenzie, king's advocate for Scotland in the reign of king James II, by Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh
    Ruaidhri Ó Flaithbheartaigh
    Ruaidhri Ó Flaithbheartaigh, King of Iar Connacht and Chief of the Name, fl. 1244-1273.-Biography:Ruaidhri was a brother of the preceding chief, Morogh...

    , 1775
  • On the Heathen State and Topography of Ancient Ireland, Charles O'Conor, 1783
  • Lecturers on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History, Eugene O'Curry
    Eugene O'Curry
    -Life:He was born at Doonaha, near Carrigaholt, County Clare, the son of Eoghan Ó Comhraí, a farmer, and his wife Cáit. Eoghan had spent some time as a travelling pedlar and had developed an interest in Irish folklore and music. Unusually for someone of his background, he appears to have been...

    , 1861, a collection of 21 lectures
  • Ireland before the Normans, Donnchadh Ó Corráin
    Donnchadh Ó Corráin
    Donnchadh Ó Corráin is an Irish historian and Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at University College Cork. He is an early Irish and mediaeval historian and has published on the Viking Wars, Ireland in the pre-Hiberno-Norman period and the origin of Irish language names.-Works:Ó Corráin's...

    , Dublin, 1972
  • A New History of Ireland: Volume IX: Maps, Genealogies, Lists: A Companion to Irish History, Part II: Maps, Genealogies, Lists Vol 9, ed. Theodore William Moody
    Theodore William Moody
    Theodore William Moody was an Irish historian. He was educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Queen's University Belfast. In 1930 he went to the Institute of Historical Research in London, and graduated with a PhD in 1934. He was Professor of Modern History at Trinity College, Dublin,...

    , F. X. Martin
    F. X. Martin
    F.X. Martin O.S.A. , was an Irish cleric, historian and activist.Born in County Kerry , Martin was raised in Dublin and later joined the Augustinian Order...

    , and Francis John Byrne
    Francis John Byrne
    Francis John Byrne is an Irish historian.Born in Shanghai where his father, a Dundalk man, captained a ship on the Yellow River, Byrne was evacuated with his mother to Australia on the outbreak of World War II...

    , 1984
  • The Irish genealogies as an onomastic source, Nollaig Ó Muraíle
    Nollaig Ó Muraíle
    Nollaig Ó Muraíle is an Irish scholar. He published an acclaimed edition of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's Leabhar na nGenealach in 2004. He was conferred with the honour of admittance to the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.-Life and career:...

    , in Nomina No.16, pp. 23–47, 1992
  • Placenames and early settlement in county Donegal, Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig
    Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig
    Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig, M.A., is the Chief Placenames Officer in the Placenames Branch in the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs]] in Ireland. He is a leading authority on Irish placenames.-Select bibliography:* "Aspects of variant word order in Early Irish." Ériu 31...

    , in Donegal: History and Society, edited by William Nolan, Liam Ronayne and Mairead Dunlevy. Dublin, 1996. pp. 149–182.
  • Irish Kings and High-Kings. 3rd revised edition, Dublin: Four Courts Press
    Four Courts Press
    Four Courts Press is an Irish academic publishing house.It was founded in 1970 by Michael Adams, a managing director at the Irish Academic Press and a member of Opus Dei. Its early publications were primarily theological, notably the English translation of the Navarre Bible...

    , 2001. ISBN 978-1-85182-196-9
  • A New History of Ireland, volume one, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
    Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
    Dáibhí Ó Cróinín is an academic Irish historian, the current Professor of History at the National University of Ireland, Galway . M.Phil., Ph.D. , and Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is a grandson of Elizabeth Cronin , an Irish traditional singer...

    , Dublin, 2006
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