Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 307 



L. — On Ikish Personal Names. By the Bey. Edmund M'Cieke, 



M.B.I. A. 



[Read 25th of January, 1875]. 



Of the time at which fixed surnames came into use in Ireland, Dr. 



0' Donovan wrote as follows in his Introduction to the Topographical 



Fojms of 0' Dubhagan, p. 12 : — 



"It is clear that Irish family names, or hereditary surnames, are 

 formed from the genitive case singular of the names of ancestors who 

 flourished in the tenth or beginning of the eleventh century, or at 

 least from the year 850 till 1290, by prefixing (i. e. tla. = grandson), 

 or Mac (i. e. 111 &C = son)." 



The majority of existing Irish surnames may be looked upon, 

 therefore, where they have not been corrupted beyond recognition, as 

 containing the old personal names current in the country at an early 

 date. The same may be said of many of the Christian-names still in 

 use among the old Irish families, where these have not been similarly 

 treated. From a study of these names, and others preserved to us by 

 the Annalists, the sources of Irish personal nomenclature may be said 

 to be the same as that which furnished the appellations in use among 

 other nations of the west. 



Without laying auy stress upon the order in which they occur, it 

 may be said generally that names are derived from one or other of the 

 seven following sources: — 1, locality; 2, time; 3, physical peculiarities; 

 4, moral qualities ; 5, occupations ; 6, animals ; and 7, religion. 



To begin with I. Those derived from locality, including therein 

 country, district, or place of abode ; it may be clearly affirmed 

 that this source furnishes but a small class of Irish personal names, 

 which stand in this respect in remarkable contrast to the names thus 

 derived which are current among the Germanic races. Thus, as derived 

 from nationality, I know but one well-determined instance, viz., 

 Branach (i.e. bpe&tn&c, a Briton or Welshman), if I except the 

 name Doyle or M'Dowell (i.e. Dubhgall = dark stranger) The 

 name Loughlin too — a sept of the O'iSeils of Ulster — and the cognate 

 MacLachlan of Scotland, possibly contain the term by which the 

 Norsemen were known in the country ( tocl&nn&c). Of names 

 derived from territory or place of abode I have noted such as the 

 following : O'Davoren (from O'Dubk-da-boireann, i. e., the descen- 

 dant of the black man of the two large rocks or rocky districts*). 

 Dubh-da-inbher, i.e. the black man of the two river mouths; Dublt- 

 da-tlmath, i.e. the black man of the two territories. We might add 

 to the foregoing the territorial designations which, combined with Cu, 

 a dog, came to distinguish the chiefs of the localities indicated, e.g. 

 Cu Chonnacht (i.e. the hound or champion of Connaught), Cu Bladhma 

 (i.e. the hound of Sleive Bloom), Cu Sionna (i.e. the hound of the 

 Shannon), Cumliaighe (i.e. Gooey — now Quintin — the hound of the 

 plain), and Cu Slelbhe (the hound of the mountain). There is also the 



* See boireann in Dr. O'Donovan's Appendix to O'Reilly's Dictionary. 



SEU. II.. VOL. I., TOL. LIT, AND AKTIQ. 2 X 



