surnames.ie

A reference to Irish family names

What your Irish surname really means, and where it comes from.

Meanings and Irish forms from the primary sources, the septs behind each name, and where its bearers lived across 11.8 million records in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses.

The 20 most common Irish surnames

Ranked by the 1911 census of Ireland, with spelling variants combined (Sullivan and O'Sullivan count as one name).

  1. 1 MurphyÓ Murchú Cork 55,969
  2. 2 KellyÓ Ceallaigh Dublin 46,474
  3. 3 WalshBreatnach Cork 37,059
  4. 4 O'SullivanÓ Súilleabháin Cork 36,162
  5. 5 O'ConnorÓ Conchúir Kerry 33,346
  6. 6 SmithMac Gabhann Cavan 31,994
  7. 7 O'BrienÓ Briain Cork 31,022
  8. 8 RyanÓ Riain Tipperary 30,675
  9. 9 ByrneÓ Broin Dublin 29,666
  10. 10 O'NeillÓ Néill Antrim 25,475
  11. 11 O'ReillyÓ Raghallaigh Cavan 24,389
  12. 12 DoyleÓ Dubhghaill Dublin 20,423
  13. 13 McCarthyMac Cárthaigh Cork 20,186
  14. 14 GallagherÓ Gallchóir Donegal 19,095
  15. 15 Brownde Brún Antrim 18,872
  16. 16 DohertyÓ Dochartaigh Donegal 18,848
  17. 17 Burkede Búrca Galway 18,603
  18. 18 MurrayÓ Muirí Dublin 18,087
  19. 19 KennedyÓ Cinnéide Tipperary 17,665
  20. 20 LynchÓ Loingsigh Cork 17,615

Counts are people recorded in the 1911 census of all 32 counties. Top county shown is where the most bearers lived. See all 100 surnames.

Surnames by county

The commonest names in each county in 1911. See all 32 counties.

Leinster

Munster

Connacht

Ulster

What makes surnames.ie different

Census-backed maps

County and local distribution for every name, from the full 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, not a sample or an estimate.

The Irish form

Each name's Gaelic original, what it means, and the personal name behind it, sourced to Woulfe and the Gaois database.

Septs, not myths

Many names arose separately in several places. We describe each lineage instead of inventing a single “clan”.

Honest heraldry

No made-up “family crest”. Arms belong to particular families, and we say whose.

A social portrait

Religion, Irish speakers, literacy, occupations and family size, each compared with Ireland as a whole.

Every claim sourced

Footnotes on every page, a public methodology, and links to the original census records.