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.”
ELEGIAC STANZAS
ON A SON AND DAUGHTER.
In Merrion, by Eblana’s bay,
They sleep beneath a spreading tree;
No voices from the public way
Shall break their deep tranquillity.
Clontarf may bloom, and gloomy Howth
Behold the white sail passing by,
But never shall the spring-time growth
Or stately bark delight their eye.
Clontarf may live, a magic name,
To call up recollections dear—
But never shall great Brian’s fame
Delight the sleeper’s heedless ear.
They fell, ere reason’s dawn arose—
They, sinless, felt affliction’s rod;
Oh, who can tell their wordless woes
Before they reached the throne of God?
What being o’er the cradle leans,
Where innocence in anguish lies;
Writhing in its untold pains—
That feels not awful thoughts arise!
’Tis dreadful eloquence to all
Whose hearts are not of marble stone—
Such eloquence as could not fall
E’en from the tongue of Massillon.
Their ills are o’er—a father’s cares—
A mother’s throes—a mother’s fears—
A wily world with all its snares,
Shall ne’er begloom their joyless years.
They sleep in Merrion by the bay,
From passions, care, and sorrow free;
No voices from the public way
Shall break their deep tranquillity.
T.