| Your Irish last name can tell you far more than | | | | search for your surname and including the phrase |
| only that your ancestors were from Ireland. It | | | | "Irish county" in your search terms should help |
| can actually be the key you need to pinpoint the | | | | you find the geographical information you're |
| exact area in Ireland where your ancestors lived. | | | | looking for. There are also a wide variety of Irish |
| Because many Irish families stayed in the same | | | | genealogy message boards available to help you |
| general location for generations, it's not unusual | | | | track down your surname's county of origin. |
| for a certain surname to only be seen within a | | | | One more important thing to remember about |
| radius of a few square miles for hundreds of | | | | Irish surnames is that the name itself can give |
| years. Even when surnames spread out | | | | you important clues as to the history of the |
| somewhat in Irish genealogical research, they still | | | | family. For example, surnames with O' in front of |
| often stay within one particular county. If you | | | | them (such as O'Malley and O'Connor) mean |
| know the area in Ireland to which your surname | | | | "grandson of." So, O'Malley would literally mean |
| was common, you can often break through some | | | | "grandson of Malley" and O'Connor would mean |
| long-standing genealogical brick walls. | | | | "grandson of Connor." Surnames with "Mc" in front |
| There are several databases online that provide | | | | of them mean "son of." Knowing this information, |
| geographical links to many an Irish last name. One | | | | combined with being aware of the county of |
| of the best-organized of such databases is found | | | | origin of your ancestors, can help you locate |
| at However, this website only catalogues the | | | | some of your most ancient ancestors and give |
| most common Irish surnames by location. More | | | | you the clues you need to trace your Irish family |
| obscure or less common names may not be | | | | into the present. |
| included. If this is the case for you, doing a Google | | | | |