Irish First Names

I have already discussed some points about Irish surnames in this blog but I feel I should also say a few words about first names. Ancient Irish first names were complex. While some of them were very common - names like Tuathal, Fiach, Ceallach, Aedh - and are found in many different lines in many parts of the country, others are very uncommon. In many cases, the names invoke the protection of a force of nature, like the sea, the storm (the element anfadh is found in Irish names). Some of them seem to be descriptive, giving a colour with another element which is a placename. Thus Dubh Eamhna and Donn Clochair probably mean the Black Haired One of Eamhain and the Brown Haired One of Clogher respectively. Some of them invoke the protection of a saint, like Giolla Phádraig or Maol Chiaráin. The important thing to remember about these ancient names is that they were so varied because surnames didn't exist at that time. However these names were composed, they needed to be more distinctive because of the lack of surnames. In some cases bearers of the more common names would be given a nickname. After surnames came in in the tenth and eleventh centuries, names began to become less varied. Eventually, they were almost limited to the saints' names that are so common today, like Peadar, Tomás, Pádraig. However, it should be borne in mind that in English, Irish names were frequently mangled out of all recognition. Conall became Cornelius, Donncha became Dionysius, Nóra became Honoria, Síle became Cecilia. Don't get the idea that your ancestor was posh just because he is called Aeneas Docherty. The Aeneas is probably Aonghus, or Angus as it is better known to English speakers. This can be seen very clearly in the recent talk about Barrack Obama's ancestor, who apparently was called Falmouth Kearney. Falmouth is not an Irish name and it is almost certainly a corrupt rendering of an Irish name like Feilimidh or Phelimy as it is sometimes given in English. Another very important point about first names is the Gaelic custom of naming the first boy after the paternal grandfather, the second boy after the maternal grandfather, the first girl after the paternal grandmother and the second girl after the maternal grandmother. There was no rule after this, but it was common for subsequent children to be named after their own parents. It was thought to be very unlucky to name a child after yourself without going through the grandparents' names first - either you or the child would die! The importance of this for the genealogist is obvious. You can often reconstruct the names of previous generations by looking at the names of the children in a family. In general, this rule only applied in families where the link to the Irish language was strong and as they became more urbanised and removed from their roots they tended to lose this custom. However, it is always worth looking out for this pattern, as it is a Godsend to the genealogist