Sixth Article.
In my last article I gave examples of the process now in progress in
the several provinces of Ireland among the people generally in changing
their original names into names apparently English or Scottish: there
are others in Ireland among the genteeler classes who have changed
their old Milesian names in such a manner as to give them a French or
Spanish appearance; and the adopters of these names _now_ wish to be
deemed as of French or Spanish origin (any thing but Irish!) These,
it is true, are few in number, but some of them are respectable; and
their effort at concealing their origin is not to be recommended. We
shall therefore exhibit a few instances of this mode of rendering Irish
names _respectable-looking_ by giving them a foreign aspect, which the
bearers cannot by any effort give their own faces. The most remarkable
of these changes has been made by the family of O’Dorcy, in the west of
the county of Galway, who have assumed not only the name of D’Arcy, but
also the arms of the D’Arcys of England. But it is well known that the
D’Arcys of Galway are all descended from James Reagh Darcy, of Galway,
merchant, whose pedigree I know to be traced by Duald Mac Firbis, not to
the D’Arcys of Meath, who are of Anglo-Norman origin, but to the Milesian
O’Dorcys of West Connaught, who were the ancient chiefs of Partree, a
well-known territory extending from the lakes of Lough Mask and Lough
Carra, westwards, in the direction of Croaghpatrick.
The next instance of this kind of change which I shall adduce, is found
in the adjacent county of Mayo, where a gentleman of the ancient and
celebrated family of O’Malley wishes all his friends to call him not
O’Malley, for that is Irish, but De Maillet; but though his friends
condescend sometimes to call him by this name, they can scarcely refrain
from laughter while pronouncing it, for they know very well that he
descends from Owen O’Malley, the father of the famous heroine Grania
Wael, and chief of Umallia or the Owles, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
The third instance I have met with of this false Irish vanity is in the
far-famed Thomond, where a gentleman of the O’Malronies has followed the
plebeian corruption of that name, by which it is metamorphosed to Moroni,
by which he affects to pass as one not of Irish but of Spanish descent;
but he cannot prevent his neighbours from calling him _O’Murruana_ when
they speak the native language, for by a strange corruption in that part
of Ireland, where the Irish language is in most other instances very
correctly pronounced, when the prefix _maol_ is followed by _r_, the _l_
is itself pronounced _r_, as in the instance under consideration, and
in O’Mulryan, a well-known name in Munster, which they now pronounce
O’Murryan. Thus an accidental corruption in the pronunciation of a
consonant is taken advantage of to metamorphose a famous old Irish name
into a Spanish one. It is indeed most lamentable to see the native Irish
think so little of their names and of their _own natural country_.
I have many other instances of this audacious kind of change of surnames
at hand, but I refrain from enlarging on them, from the apprehension of
exceeding my limits without being enabled to bring this subject to a
close in the stipulated space. A few others, however, are necessary to
be exhibited to public scorn. The next instance, then, which has come
under my notice, is in the province of Connaught, where the family of
O’Mulaville have all changed their name to Lavelle, and where those who
know nothing of the history of that family are beginning to think that
they are of French descent. But it is the constant tradition in the
county of Mayo that they are of Danish origin, and that they have been
located in Iarowle since the ninth century. Of this name was the late
Editor of the Freeman’s Journal: a man of great abilities and extensive
learning, who among other ancient languages had acquired a profound
knowledge of his own native dialect. This name is scotticised Mac Paul in
the province of Ulster.
Another name which some people are apt to take for a French or
Anglo-Norman name, is Delany, as if it were De Lani; but the Irish origin
of this family cannot be questioned, for the name is called O’Dulainé in
the original language, and the family were originally located at the foot
of Slieve Bloom in Upper Ossory. Another instance is found in the change
of O’Dowling to DuLaing, but this is seldom made, and never by any but
people of no consequence.
Some individuals of the name of Magunshinan, or Magilsinan, upon leaving
their original localities in Cavan and Meath, have assumed, some the name
of Nugent, and others that of Gilson. Of this family was Charles Gilson,
the founder and endower of the public school of Old Castle, a man of
great benevolence, who found it convenient on his removal to London to
shorten his name to Gilson.
Other individuals of Irish name and origin, upon settling in London and
other parts of England, have changed their surnames altogether, as the
ancestor of the present Baron of Lower Tabley, whose name was Sir Peter
Byrne, but who was obliged to change his name to Leycester, to conform
to the will of his maternal grandfather, who had bequeathed him large
estates in England, on condition of his dropping his Irish name and
adopting that of the testator. He is the most distinguished man of the
O’Byrne race now living, and we regret that his Irish origin is entirely
disguised in his present name of Warren. He descends from Daniel, the
second son of Loughlin Duff of Ballintlea, in the county of Wicklow, a
chief of great distinction, and is related to the Byrnes of Fallybeg,
near Stradbally, in the Queen’s County, who descended from the first
son of this Loughlin--a fact with which his lordship is altogether
unacquainted; and the writer of these remarks has often regretted that
his lordship has not been made acquainted with this fact, as it might be
in his power to serve the sons of the late venerable Laurence Byrne of
Fallybeg.
Other changes have been made in Irish surnames by abbreviation; but
though we regret this, we are not willing to condemn it altogether,
especially when the changes are made for the purpose of rendering such
names easy of pronunciation in the mouths of magistrates and lawyers, who
could not, in many cases, bring their organs of speech to pronounce them
in their original Irish form. Of these we could give a long list, but we
shall content ourselves with a selection.
In the province of Connaught the name Mac Eochy has been shortened to
M’Keogh, and latterly to Keogh; O’Mulconry to Conry and Conroy. In
Ossory, Mac Gillapatrick has been manufactured into Fitzpatrick. In the
county of Galway, and throughout the province of Connaught generally,
Mac Gillakelly has been manufactured into Kilkelly; O’Mullally to Lally;
Mac Gillakenny, to Kilkenny; Mac Gillamurry, to Kilmurry; Mac Gilladuff
to Kilduff; Mac Geraghty, to Geraghty and Gearty; Mac Phaudeen, to
Patten; O’Houlahan, to Nolan. This last change is not to be excused, for
it entirely disguises the origin of the family; and we would therefore
recommend the Nolans of the county of Galway to reject their false name,
and re-assume that of O’Houlahan. This family were removed from Munster
into Connaught by Oliver Cromwell, under the name of O’Houlahan, and they
have therefore no just right to assume the name of another Irish family
to whom they bear no relation whatsoever. The real Nolans of Ireland
are of Leinster origin, and were the ancient chiefs of the barony of
Forth, in the now county of Carlow, anciently called Foharta Fea, where
they are still numerous; but the Connaught Nolans are not Nolans at all,
but O’Houlahans, and are a family who bore the dignity of chieftains in
ancient times, though it happens, that, not knowing their history, or
taking a dislike to the sound of the name, they have, with questionable
propriety, assumed the name of a Leinster family, which seems to sound
somewhat better in modern ears. In the province of Ulster, the name Mac
Gillaroe has been shortened to Gilroy and Kilroy; Mac Gillabride, to
Mac Bride; Mac Gillacuskly, to Cuskly, and impertinently to Cosgrove
and even Costello! Mac Gilla-Finnen, to Linden and Leonard; Mac Gennis,
to Ennis and Guinness; Mac Blosky, to Mac Closky. In Munster the noble
name of Mac Carthy (or, as it is pronounced in the original Irish, Maw
Caurhă) has dwindled to Carty (a vile change!); O’Mulryan, to O’Ryan and
Ryan; Mac Gilla-Synan, to Shannon; Mac Gillaboy, to Mac Evoy, &c. &c.
In Leinster, all the O’s and Macs have been rejected; and though a few
of them are to be met there now, in consequence of the influx of poor
strangers of late into that province, it is certain that there is not
a single instance in which the O’ or Mac has been retained by any of
the aboriginal inhabitants of that province, I mean the _ancient Irish_
Leinster, not including Meath. The most distinguished of these was Mac
Murrogh, but there is not a single individual of that name now living in
Leinster; the descendants of Donnell Mac Murrogh Cavanagh, who, although
illegitimate, became by far the most distinguished branch of that great
family, having all changed their surnames to Cavanagh, and the other
branches having, as the present writer has strong reasons to believe,
changed it to Murphy. The writer has come to this latter conclusion from
having ascertained that in the territory of the Murrows, in the county
of Wexford, once the country of a great and powerful sept of the Mac
Murroghs, the greater number of the inhabitants, who are perhaps the
finest race of men in Ireland, are now called Murphy. He has therefore
come to the conclusion, and he hopes not too hastily, that the Murphys
of this territory are all Mac Murroghs. At the same time, however, he is
well aware that the name generally anglicised Murphy is not Mac Murrogh,
but O’Murchoo, which was that of a branch or offshoot of the regal family
of Leinster, who became chiefs of the country of Hy-Felimy, and whose
chief seat was at Tullow, in the now county of Carlow. The writer is well
aware that the Murphys of the county of Carlow and Kilkenny are of this
latter family, but he cannot get rid of the conviction that the Murphys
of the Murrowes, in the east of the county of Wexford, are Mac Murroghs.
On the subject of the difference between these two families, we find the
learned Roderic O’Flaherty thus criticising Peter Walsh towards the close
of the seventeenth century:--
“An O’ or a Mac is prefixed in Irish surnames to the proper names of
some of their ancestors, intimating that they were the sons, grandsons,
or posterity of the person whose name they adopted; but it was not
proper to use one name promiscuously in the place of another, as he
writes O’Murphy, king of Leinster, instead of Mac Murphy, or rather Mac
Murchadh; but the family of O’Murchadha, which in English is Murphy, is
very different from and inferior to this family.”--Ogygia, Part III, cap.
xxvii.
There are also some few instances to be met with, in which the O’ has
been changed to Mac, and _vice versa_, as in the remarkable instance
of O’Melaghlin, chief of the Southern Hy-Niall race, to Mac Loughlin;
also in those instances in which O’Duvyerma has been changed to Mac
Dermot, O’Donoghy to Mac Donogh, O’Knavin to Mac Nevin, O’Heraghty to Mac
Geraghty, and a few others.
These latter changes are not calculated to disguise the _Irish origin_ of
the families who have made them, but they are still to be regretted, as
they tend to disguise the origin, race, and locality of the respective
families, and we should therefore like to see the original names restored.
Similar changes have been made in the family names among the Welsh, as
Ap-John into Jones, Ap-Richard into Prichard and Richards, Ap-Owen into
Owens, Ap-Robert into Probert and Roberts, Ap-Gwillim into Williams, &c.
&c.
Having thus treated of the alterations the Irish have made in their
surnames, or family names, for the purpose of making them appear English,
I shall next proceed to point out the changes which they have likewise
made in their Christian or baptism names, for the same purpose. Many of
their original names they have altogether rejected, as not immediately
reducible to any modern English forms; but others they have retained,
though they have altered them in such a manner as to make them appear
English. The writer could furnish from the authentic Irish annals and
pedigrees a long list of proper names of men which were in use in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, and which have been for a long time laid aside;
but the limits of this Journal would not afford room for such a list:
he must therefore content himself by pointing out the original forms of
such names as have been retained in an anglicised shape. These changes
in the Christian names have been made, not only by those families who
have adopted English surnames, but also by those who have retained the
Milesian O’s and Macs; but these families have assumed that the English
forms which they have given this class of names are perfectly correct.
This was assumed to be true so early as the year 1689, in which we find
Sir Richard Cox writing on the subject as follows:--
“The Christian names of the Irish are as in England; Aodh _i. e._ Hugh,
Mahoone _i. e._ Matthew, Teige _i. e._ Timothy, Dermond _i. e._ Jeremy,
Cnogher _i. e._ Cornelius, Cormac _i. e._ Charles, Art _i. e._ Arthur,
Donal _i. e._ Daniel, Goron _i. e._ Jeofry, Magheesh _i. e._ Moses.”
Now, I absolutely deny that these names are identical, though I
acknowledge that they are at present universally received and used as
such. In the first place, the name _Aodh_, which has been metamorphosed
to Hugh, is not synonymous with it, for the name Aodh signifies _fire_,
but _Hugh_, which has been borrowed from the Saxon, signifies _high_ or
_lofty_. Since, then, they bear not the same meaning, and are not made
up of the same letters, in what, may it be asked, does their identity
consist? It is quite obvious that they have nothing in common with
each other. In the second place, Mahon, or, as Sir Richard Cox writes
it, Mahoone, is not Matthew; for if we believe Spenser and some Irish
glossographists, Mahon signifies a _bear_; and if they be correct, it
cannot be identical, synonymous, or cognate with the Scriptural name
Matthew, which does not signify a _bear_, but a _gift_, or a _present_.
In the third instance, the Irish name Teige, which according to all the
Irish glossaries signifies _a poet_, is not synonymous with Timothy,
which means _the God-fearing_, and therefore is not identical or cognate
with it; and I therefore doubt that the Irish people have any right to
change Teige into Timothy. It was first anglicised Thady, and the writer
is acquainted with individuals who have rendered it Thaddæus, Theophilus,
and Theodosius.
In the fourth instance, Dermod, or, as Sir Richard Cox writes it,
Dermond, is not identical with Jeremy, nor is it synonymous or even
cognate with it. On this name, which was first very incorrectly
anglicised Darby, the learned Dr O’Brien writes as follows:--“_Diarmaid_,
the proper name of several great princes of the old Irish. This name
[which had its origin in Pagan times] is a compound of _Dia_, god, and
_armaid_, the genitive plural of the Irish word _arm_, Latin _arma_,
_armorum_, so that _Dia-armaid_ literally signifies the same as _Deus
armorum_, the god of arms. Such is the exalted origin of this Irish name,
which does not screen it from being at times a subject of ridicule to
some of our pretty gentlemen of the modern English taste.”
It must, however, in candour be acknowledged that this is not the meaning
of the name Dermod, and that Dr O’Brien invented this explanation to
gain what he considered respectability for a name common in his own
illustrious family, and which was considered vulgar by the fashionable
people of the period at which he wrote. We have the authority of the
Irish glossaries to show that _Diarmaid_, which was adopted at a remote
period of Irish history, as the proper name of a man, signifies a
freeman; and though this meaning does not sound as lofty as the _Deus
armorum_ of Dr O’Brien, still it is sufficiently respectable to show
that Dermod is not a barbarous name, and that the Irish people need
not be ashamed of it; but they will be ashamed of every Irish name in
despite of all that can be said, as the writer has very strong grounds
for asserting. The reason is obvious--because they have lost their
nationality.
In the fifth instance, Concovar, or, as Sir Richard Cox writes it,
Cnogher, is not identical, synonymous, or even cognate with Cornelius;
for though it has been customary with some families to latinize it to
Cornelius, still we know from the radices of both names that they bear
not the slightest analogy to each other, for the Irish name is compounded
of _Conn_, strength, and _Cobhair_, aid, assistance; while the Latin
Cornelius is differently compounded. It is, then, evident that there is
no reason for changing the Irish Concovar or Conor to Cornelius, except a
fancied resemblance between the sounds of both; but this resemblance is
very remote indeed.
In the sixth instance, the name Cormac has nothing whatsoever to do with
Charles (which means _noble-spirited_), for it is explained by all the
glossographers as signifying “Son of the Chariot,” and it is added, “that
it was first given as a sobriquet, in the first century, to a Lagenian
prince who happened to be born in a chariot while his mother was going
on a journey, but that it afterwards became honourable as the name of
many great personages in Ireland.” After the accession of Charles the
First, however, to the throne, many Irish families of distinction changed
Cormac to Charles, in order to add dignity to the name by making it the
same with that of the sovereign--a practice which has been very generally
followed ever since.
In the seventh instance, Sir Richard is probably correct. I do not deny
that Art may be synonymous with Arthur; indeed I am of opinion that
they are both words of the same original family of language, for the
Irish word _Art_ signifies _noble_, and if we can rely on the British
etymologists, Arthur bears much of a similar meaning in the Gomraeg or
Old British.
With respect to the eighth instance given by Sir Richard Cox, I have
no hesitation in asserting that the Irish proper name Domhnall, which
was originally anglicised Donnell and Donald, is not the same with the
Scriptural name Daniel, which means _God is judge_. I am at least certain
that the ancient Irish glossographers never viewed it as such, for they
always wrote it _Domhnall_, and understood it to mean a great or proud
chieftain. This explanation may, however, be possibly incorrect; but the
_m_ in the first syllable shows that the name is formed from a root very
different from that from which the Scriptural name Daniel is derived.
With respect to the names Goron (which is but a mistake for Searoon),
Jeofry, and Magheesh, Moses, the two last instances furnished by Sir
Richard Cox, they were never borne by the ancient Irish, but were
borrowed from the Anglo-Normans, and therefore I have nothing to do with
them in this place. What I have said is sufficient to show that the
Christian names borne by the ancient Irish are not identical, synonymous,
or even cognate with those substituted for them in the time of Sir
Richard Cox.
* * * * *
The most valuable part of every man’s education is that which he receives
from himself, especially when the active energy of his character makes
ample amends for the want of a more finished course of study.
* * * * *
“Would you know this boy to be my son from his resemblance to me?” asked
a gentleman. Mr Curran replied, “Yes, sir; the maker’s name is stamped
upon the _blade_.”