Clare Island Survey — Place-Names and Family Names. 3 39 



the Mac Suibhne name, hereditary chiefs of mercenaries, who accompanied 

 Tuathal, were drowned " along with their people, both woman and man." 

 Tuathal himself, his two sons, and their people, with difficulty got to land in 

 Scotland. The incidents are instructive, in view of the movements of people, 

 "both woman and man," by sea and land in the fifteenth century. Clann 

 Tuathail are called in English " Toole." " datur ambiguus " ; and the 

 western Clann Tuathail of Umhall are like to be mistaken for a branch of 

 the eastern Clann Tuathail of Ui Mail (Imaal, co. Wicklow) through the now 

 frequent change from Mac Tuathail to " Toole," which, under favourable 

 circumstances, becomes " O'Toole." 



111ac C^bA, "MacCabe." There is only one family of the name in Clare 

 Island — that of the hotel-keeper. He is, I understand, a native of southern 

 Ulster. The Mac Cabas first appear in Irish history in the fourteenth century 

 as leaders of galloglachs, i.e. mercenaries of Norse-Hebridean origin, under 

 the Irish princes of Breffny and Oriel. They followed the profession of 

 condottieri for two centuries or more, their chiefs being known by the titles 

 of Constable of Oriel, Constable of Breffny, and Constable of the Two 

 Breffnys, Fermanagh, and Oriel. The tradition of their Norse origin is still 

 known in East Breffny (Co. Cavan). Distinctive Hebridean forenames, such 

 as Alan (Aleinn), Somhairle (SumarlrSi), were formerly frequent in their 

 families. 



Tnumncqi ploniu, surname O 'ptoirin, "Flynn." Their origin would be 

 difficult to determine. There were at least three great families of the name, 

 one in Ulster, one in Connacht (district of Boyle, co. Boscommon), and one' 

 in Munster. Three households in Clare Island. 



Cl&rm 1Tlic Ha. HIaha, surname 111 ac 11a 111a|ia; old and literary form, 

 Mac Con Mara. A noted Thomond family. Two households in Clare 

 Island. One of the sea-caves or coves is named from them. 



CtAnn tTlic 5imvo&ij>, surname HIac 5l ,1 ^' 0/:, - 1 5 (Mag Biadaigh ? 

 Mag Biada ?), " Grady." Compare the Ulster (West Scottish ?) name, 

 Macready, Mecredy. By taking the form " Grady," this surname is likely to 

 he confused with the Munster " O'Gradys," properly 6 Grada. On the other, 

 hand, many of the latter family, especially in their ancient home, co. Clare, 

 have englished their name as Brady, which in turn is the normal English 

 version of the South Ulster surname Mac Brddaigh. 1 The arbitrary process 

 of inventing English equivalents for Irish names, whether of persons or 

 places, tends to bring the history and meaning of the names into a welter of 



1 A note to the Annals of Ulster (an. 434) derives this surname from " bradach, thievish " ! It is 

 from brddach, "spirited." In like manner, brdddn beathadh, "breath of life," has been misread 

 and misrendered, braddn beathadh, " salmon of life " (copied in Dinneen's Irish-English Dictionarv). 



