Whats in a Name

Surnames can often hide their history in plain sight, what is Irish or sounds it may not be so at all, and what sounds foreign may be a forced anglicisation of a real Irish name... still, it seems ours is Irish, but may not be Clan Eoghanchta like I thought, but rather Connachta... a sub clan of O'Rourke / O' Reilly...
Surnames can often hide their history in plain sight, what is Irish or sounds it may not be so at all, and what sounds foreign may be a forced anglicisation of a real Irish name… still, it seems ours is Irish, but may not be Clan Eoghanchta like I thought, but rather Connachta… a sub clan of O’Rourke / O’ Reilly…

By Mac and O the rhyme does go
An Irishman can be known
Through this rhyme and a little time
The truth and lie of that will be shown…

For some who an Irish name bear
Had it changed from another long ago
To one that sounded like there when they came
Those who mispronounce announce the story they know.

Some have a history known by few
To all and sundry so obscure
Some think its a cover story of a history hidden
We do not know and will never be sure…

Some bear the most English of them all
Forced to change it in times past…
So an Irish Smith and Smyth is actually McGowan
Breiffne clan of the braves battles blast.

So theres more to name than you ever think
Bear in mind as you grow your family tree…
The heros can be villains, the villians heros…
Prepare to be stunned by what you find… like me!!!!

In Who The Hell Do You Think You Are, my website on genealogy and family research I have found some strange folk come rattling from the closet of the mists of time… with one branch of our family very “Tally ho old chap” indeed… quite odd for a clan who thought ourselves good respectable Catholic rebels!

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