28 



[Proc. B.N.F.C. 



On 28th January, a paper was read by the Rev. Edmund 

 M'Clure, A.M., on " The Surnames of the Inhabitants of the 

 County Antrim, and their Indications."* 



The County Antrim has of late years, at least, furnished a fair 

 field for the labours of the archaeologist and historian — rich as it is 

 in materials to incite and encourage their researches. The last 

 contribution to its annals, from the scholarly and industrious pen 

 of the Rev. George Hill, exhibits something of the rich harvest 

 which may be gathered in this domain by accurate observation and 

 patient labour. The extremely favourable reception which that 

 valuable book has received, not only from the intelligent public of 

 this county, but from all who are interested in our national history 

 everywhere— while it must be very gratifying to the author — is, at 

 the same time, a fair warrant that any further investigation in the 

 same direction will not be thrown away. I feel, therefore, that I 

 have not undertaken a useless or superfluous task in endeavouring, 

 in ever so little a measure, to further elucidate the history 0/ my 

 native county, and that from a source which has never been em- 

 ployed, as it ought, for this purpose. 



The family names in the county, when treated in a philosophic 

 spirit, are capable of furnishing a great deal of material towards 

 its history, as I hope to show you to-night. Surnames, which are 

 tolerably permanent amid the vicissitudes occasioned by immi- 

 gration or conquest, bear very clear and unmistakable testimony 

 to the various elements of the population in any place ; and this 

 county, which has been subject to the inroads of many peoples, 

 affords very abundant evidence in its existing surnames of the 

 nature and extent of the mixture of population thus brought about. 

 If we could procure a reliable list of all the family names existing 

 in the county, giving also their relative distribution, we should 

 have a very fair means for determining the various elements in the 

 population, and for arriving thus at the origin of the inhabitants. 



* In accordance with a special resolution of the Club, this paper is published 

 in extenso. 



