surnames.ie

Irish surname · 45th most common in 1911

Boyle

Also spelt O'Boyle

In Ireland, Boyle and O'Boyle usually come from Ó Baoighill (modern Ó Baoill), a Donegal family of the Cenél Conaill who gave their name to the barony of Boylagh. Separately, Boyle is the name of an English family, the Earls of Cork, and of a Scottish Lowland clan of Norman origin.

Irish Ó Baoighill · Ó Baoill
1901 census
11,860
#45 · 27 per 10,000
1911 census
11,594
#45 · 26 per 10,000
1926 census
7,862
#61 · 27 per 10,000
Most numerous
Donegal
Highest share: Donegal

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic, English & Scottish Mostly Gaelic Irish (Ó Baoighill of Donegal) in Ireland, alongside the unrelated English Boyles, Earls of Cork, and the Norman-descended Scottish Boyles of Kelburn.[1][2][3][4]

Ó Baoighill
Modern spelling: Ó Baoill
“descendant of Baoigheall”[1][5][6]
Woulfe's headword, giving O'Boyle and Boyle as its English forms. Wikipedia gives the modern spelling Ó Baoill, and Wiktionary records an older form, Ó Baoithghill.

The name is built on the personal name Baoigheall, usually explained as “uncertain; perhaps 'vain pledge'”. Woulfe suggests Baoigheall is probably a form of baoithgheall, 'vain pledge'. Wiktionary similarly links it with baoth, 'vain' or 'foolish', and geall, 'pledge'. Wikipedia stresses that the meaning is uncertain and reports other readings, including 'danger' and, more flatteringly, 'having profitable pledges'.[1][6][5]

Pronunciation

Boyle: BOYL (rhymes with 'oil')

Place

Where the Boyles lived

How common the name was in each county, as a share of the population, in the three surviving full censuses of Ireland. Use the buttons to compare years.

Donegal: 257.1 per 10,000 (4,335 people) Waterford: 5.7 per 10,000 (47 people) Dublin: 8 per 10,000 (383 people) Kilkenny: 14.1 per 10,000 (106 people) Carlow: 8.8 per 10,000 (32 people) Limerick: 5.2 per 10,000 (74 people) Louth: 57 per 10,000 (359 people) Tipperary: 8.7 per 10,000 (133 people) Roscommon: 13.8 per 10,000 (130 people) Meath: 28.1 per 10,000 (183 people) Wicklow: 1.8 per 10,000 (11 people) Cavan: 18.3 per 10,000 (167 people) Cork: 2.5 per 10,000 (97 people) Clare: 8.9 per 10,000 (93 people) Galway: 21.3 per 10,000 (388 people) Mayo: 59.6 per 10,000 (1,145 people) Sligo: 21.7 per 10,000 (172 people) Leitrim: 16.7 per 10,000 (105 people) Offaly: 3.5 per 10,000 (20 people) Laois: 2 per 10,000 (11 people) Kildare: 7.5 per 10,000 (50 people) Kerry: 13.5 per 10,000 (216 people) Monaghan: 28.5 per 10,000 (204 people) Wexford: 7.5 per 10,000 (77 people) Longford: 5 per 10,000 (22 people) Westmeath: 6.8 per 10,000 (41 people) Tyrone: 29.9 per 10,000 (427 people) Antrim: 21.7 per 10,000 (1,035 people) Armagh: 33.2 per 10,000 (397 people) Fermanagh: 29.3 per 10,000 (178 people) Londonderry: 40.9 per 10,000 (571 people) Down: 12.6 per 10,000 (385 people)
fewerup to 258 per 10,000

Share of each county's census population. 1926 covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State only.

Highest concentration · 1911

Donegal

257 per 10,000

4,335 Boyles · 9.73× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Donegal 257
  2. Mayo 60
  3. Louth 57
  4. Londonderry 41
  5. Armagh 33
  6. Tyrone 30
  7. Fermanagh 29
  8. Monaghan 29

Per 10,000 residents. A concentration index above 1 means the name was commoner there than nationally.

County figures as a table
County190119111926Per 10k 1901Per 10k 1911Per 10k 1926
Antrim1,0781,035—2422—
Armagh417397—3333—
Carlow3532359910
Cavan181167141191817
Clare10493969910
Cork989771232
Donegal4,4514,3353,937257257258
Down405385—1413—
Dublin310383441789
Fermanagh195178—3029—
Galway375388334202120
Kerry211216207131414
Kildare305025584
Kilkenny9810683131412
Laois10112220
Leitrim138105102201718
Limerick1117468855
Londonderry525571—3641—
Longford302229657
Louth422359318655751
Mayo1,0841,145962556056
Meath199183189282830
Monaghan227204207312932
Offaly342012642
Roscommon139130117141414
Sligo168172172212224
Tipperary138133124999
Tyrone439427—2930—
Waterford624742765
Westmeath4541597710
Wexford927780988
Wicklow9119222

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Boyles made up the largest share of the population. In Maas, Co. Donegal, about one resident in 4 was a Boyle.

DEDCountyBoylesShare
MaasDonegal122 24.0%
DawrosDonegal178 15.9%
Aran Islands off the coastDonegal242 14.7%
AnnagaryDonegal489 14.4%
RutlandDonegal437 14.0%
DunglowDonegal175 12.7%
InnishkeelDonegal62 12.6%
ScreggGalway46 10.5%

Origins

Septs & territories

Many Irish surnames were adopted independently by unrelated families. These are the distinct Boyle lineages described in the sources.

A surname can point you towards a place. On its own, it cannot establish a pedigree.

Ó Baoighill of Tír Ainmhireach (O'Boyle's country)

first the Three Tuaths in north-west Donegal, later Tír Ainmhireach, now the barony of Boylagh · Donegal

A leading family of the Cenél Conaill, of the same stock as the O'Donnells and O'Dohertys. Woulfe says they first ruled the Three Tuaths, but when those lands passed to the MacSweeneys they became chiefs of Tír Ainmhireach in west Donegal. That district came to be called Críoch Bhaoigheallach, O'Boyle's country, now the barony of Boylagh.[1][5][7]

Boyle, Earls of Cork

estates centred on Lismore, Youghal and Bandon · Cork, Waterford, Tipperary

An English family, founded in Ireland by Richard Boyle, born in Canterbury in 1566 of a Herefordshire landed family, who arrived in Dublin in 1588. He built up vast Munster estates and was created Earl of Cork in 1620. Four of his sons became peers, and the family later held the earldoms of Orrery, Burlington and Shannon.[8][4]

Clan Boyle of Kelburn

Kelburn, Ayrshire

A Scottish Lowland family whose name Wikipedia traces to Beuville, a Norman town near Caen; Wiktionary instead names Biéville in Normandy. Richard de Boyville held Kelburn in Ayrshire by 1275, and David Boyle of Kelburn was created Earl of Glasgow in 1703. The chief still lives at Kelburn Castle.[3][6]

The name over time

History

A Cenél Conaill family

The O'Boyles belonged to the Cenél Conaill, the kindred that ruled much of what is now Donegal, and Woulfe counts them among its principal families, sharing descent with the O'Donnells and O'Dohertys. Wikipedia places them within the Northern Uí Néill, supposedly descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages through a Donegal chief called Aneisleis Ó Baoighill. According to Woulfe, their first lordship was the Three Tuaths in north-west Donegal, which they lost when those lands passed to the MacSweeneys.[1][5]

O'Boyle's country

Displaced from the Three Tuaths, the O'Boyle chief became lord of Tír Ainmhireach in west Donegal. The territory became known as Críoch Bhaoigheallach, O'Boyle's country, and the name survives in the barony of Boylagh, which P. W. Joyce derived from the O'Boyles. As a barony it was formally separated from Banagh in 1791. The barony takes in the Rosses, Dungloe, Glenties and the island of Arranmore.[1][5][7]

A name spread across Ireland

Woulfe found the O'Boyles mentioned many times in the Annals of the Four Masters and in the Elizabethan fiants. During the wars of Elizabeth's reign, he says, members of the family dispersed so widely that by the late 16th century they could be found in nearly every county. Today Wikipedia describes Boyle as one of the commonest surnames in north-west Ireland, though most bearers have long since dropped the O'.[1][2]

The 'Great Earl' of Cork

A wholly separate Boyle family arrived from England. Richard Boyle, born in Canterbury in 1566, came to Dublin in 1588 with little money. Marriage to the heiress Joan Apsley in 1595 gave him his first estate, and in 1602 he bought Sir Walter Raleigh's lands in Cork, Waterford and Tipperary, some 42,000 acres including Lismore Castle. He founded Clonakilty by royal charter in 1613 and developed Bandon, became Earl of Cork in 1620 and was Lord Treasurer of Ireland from 1631. He played a major part in the English colonisation of Munster.[8][4]

Earls, scientists and architects

The first Earl of Cork was unusual in seeing four sons made peers. Roger Boyle became Earl of Orrery in 1660, the second Earl of Cork was made Earl of Burlington, and another son, Robert Boyle, became one of the founders of modern chemistry and gave his name to Boyle's law. The third Earl of Burlington was the architect who designed Chiswick House with William Kent. When he died without sons in 1753, Lismore passed to the Cavendish family, while the earldom of Cork went to a cousin of the Orrery line.[4][9][10]

The Scottish Boyles

Scotland has its own Boyles, unconnected with Donegal. Wikipedia traces Clan Boyle to Beuville near Caen in Normandy and records a David de Boivil as a charter witness in 1164. By 1275 the family held Kelburn in Ayrshire, which it still occupies. David Boyle of Kelburn was made Lord Boyle in 1699 and Earl of Glasgow in 1703, and was one of the commissioners for the Treaty of Union.[3]

Places linked to the name

  • Boylagh (Baollaigh), Co. Donegal — Barony named after the O'Boyles, representing their territory of Tír Ainmhireach, or Críoch Bhaoigheallach.[7][1]
  • Lismore Castle (Caisleán an Leasa Mhóir), Co. Waterford — Bought by Richard Boyle in 1602 and made his chief country residence; it passed to the Cavendish family in 1753.[8][10]
  • Youghal (Eochaill), Co. Cork — Richard Boyle had a residence here and turned a chapel of St Mary's Collegiate Church into a family mortuary chapel.[8]
  • Kelburn Castle, Co. Ayrshire (Scotland) — Seat of the Scottish Boyles, Earls of Glasgow, held by the family since the 13th century.[3]

Everyday lives

The Boyles in the census

Who the Boyles were in the 1901 and 1911 censuses (and 1926 where recorded), set against everyone in Ireland in the same census.

Boyles All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Boyle bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +15.3 points vs Ireland
Boyles 88.9%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −6.6 points vs Ireland
Boyles 6.6%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian −6.7 points vs Ireland
Boyles 3.4%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −2.1 points vs Ireland
Boyles 1.0%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 +22.3 points vs Ireland
Boyles 37.6%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 +22.5 points vs Ireland
Boyles 36.0%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties +18.2 points vs Ireland
Boyles 31.7%
All of Ireland 13.5%

306 Boyles spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ −12.9 points vs Ireland
Boyles 67.5%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ −10.0 points vs Ireland
Boyles 75.8%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 2,313 households higher than Ireland
Boyles 5.09
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 higher than Ireland
Boyles 6.97
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living +2.6 points vs Ireland
Boyles 82.4%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer2,776
Farmer's son1,285
Farmer's daughter652
Farm servant321
Agricultural labourer278
General labourer276
Labourer264
Seamstress249
Farm labourer246
House keeper221

Born outside Ireland

2.7% of Boyles in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England172
Scotland94
United States35
Wales2
India1
Canada1

Median age: 23 in 1901, 25 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Boyles

Men and boys

  1. John2,084
  2. Patrick1,738
  3. James1,527
  4. Michael1,000
  5. Thomas807
  6. William516
  7. Edward456
  8. Hugh453
  9. Charles425
  10. Joseph388

Women and girls

  1. Mary2,688
  2. Bridget1,573
  3. Annie786
  4. Margaret687
  5. Ellen676
  6. Maggie550
  7. Catherine548
  8. Kate535
  9. Anne422
  10. Sarah408

All three censuses combined. Top five in 1926: John, Patrick, James, Michael, Thomas; Mary, Bridget, Annie, Margaret, Ellen.

Spellings

Spellings

This page combines the spellings below, which census enumerators and families used for the same name.

Spelling190119111926Records
Boyle10,82610,5607,036Search
O'Boyle1,0341,034826Search

Related forms

  • O'Boyle — The form keeping the O prefix; Woulfe gives O'Boyle and Boyle as the two English forms of Ó Baoighill.[1][5]
  • Ó Baoill — The modern Irish spelling.[5]
  • de Boyville, de Boivil — Medieval spellings of the Scottish Boyle family recorded in Wikipedia.[3]

Diaspora

The Boyles abroad

Emigration carried the name worldwide. In the 2010 United States census:

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Boyle39,921866th
O'Boyle3,2819859th

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 surname file (public domain).

Heraldry

Is there a Boyle coat of arms?

Arms belonged to particular families, so there is no single Boyle crest. Burke's General Armory records for the O'Boyle sept of Cinel Conaill, chiefs of Boylagh, a green oak tree torn up by the roots on gold, with a crest of a sword and a cross behind a red heart. Quite different arms belong to the English Boyles, Earls of Cork and Orrery, whose motto Burke gives as 'God's providence is my inheritance', and to the Scottish Earls of Glasgow.[11]

Websites selling a single “Boyle family crest” are selling a design, not an inheritance. Arms in Ireland belonged to individuals and their heirs, and the Chief Herald of Ireland still grants arms that way today.

People

Notable people named Boyle

  • Cornelius O'Boyle (c. 1547–1591)
    Catholic Bishop of Limerick from 1582 to 1591.
  • Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (1566–1643)
    English-born Lord Treasurer of Ireland who amassed vast estates in Munster.
  • Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery (1621–1679)
    Anglo-Irish soldier, politician and dramatist, a younger son of the Earl of Cork.
  • Robert Boyle (1627–1691)
    Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, often called the first modern chemist; Boyle's law bears his name.
  • Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753)
    The 'Architect Earl', who designed Chiswick House with William Kent.
  • Ina Boyle (1889–1967)
    Irish composer of orchestral, choral and chamber works, opera and ballet.
  • Patrick O'Boyle (1896–1987)
    First resident Archbishop of Washington and a cardinal from 1967.
  • Kay Boyle (1902–1992)
    American novelist, short-story writer and political activist.
  • Patrick Boyle (1905–1982)
    Antrim-born novelist and short-story writer who began writing in his forties.
  • Willard Boyle (1924–2011)
    Canadian physicist who shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for inventing the charge-coupled device.
  • Peter Boyle (1935–2006)
    American actor, Frank Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond.
  • Danny Boyle (born 1956)
    English film director and producer, winner of an Academy Award.

Questions

Questions about the Boyle name

Is Boyle an Irish surname?

Usually, yes. In Ireland most Boyles descend from the Gaelic family Ó Baoighill, a leading sept of the Cenél Conaill in Donegal, and Wikipedia describes Boyle as one of the commonest names in north-west Ireland. But Boyle is also an English and Scottish surname: the Earls of Cork were an English family, and Clan Boyle of Ayrshire has Norman roots.[1][2][4][3]

What is Boyle in Irish?

The Irish form is Ó Baoill, written Ó Baoighill in Woulfe's older spelling, meaning 'descendant of Baoigheall'. The meaning of Baoigheall is uncertain. Woulfe suggests 'vain pledge', and Wikipedia records other interpretations.[1][5]

Are Boyle and O'Boyle the same name?

Yes, for the Irish family. Woulfe gives both O'Boyle and Boyle as English forms of Ó Baoighill. Like many Irish families, most O'Boyles dropped the O' in English. The English and Scottish Boyles, by contrast, never used the O' and are unrelated.[1][5]

Is Boyle Irish, Scottish or English?

All three, from separate origins. The Irish Boyles are mostly O'Boyles of Donegal. The Scottish Boyles of Kelburn in Ayrshire take their name from Beuville in Normandy. The Boyles who became Earls of Cork came from an English family: Richard Boyle, the first Earl, was born in Canterbury to a family of Herefordshire descent. A family's county of origin is the best clue to which line it belongs to.[1][3][8]

Where does the Boyle name come from in Ireland?

From Donegal. The O'Boyles were first chiefs of the Three Tuaths in the north-west of the county and later of Tír Ainmhireach in the west, known as O'Boyle's country and now the barony of Boylagh. Woulfe says the family spread to nearly every county during the Elizabethan wars.[1][7]

Is there a Boyle family crest or coat of arms?

Not one for everyone named Boyle. Burke records arms for the O'Boyle sept of Boylagh, featuring an uprooted oak tree, and quite different arms for the English Earls of Cork and Orrery, with the motto 'God's providence is my inheritance'. These belonged to particular families and do not pass to everyone with the surname.[11]

How do you pronounce Boyle?

Boyle is a single syllable that rhymes with 'oil' and 'soil'.[6]

Where in Ireland is the Boyle surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Boyles lived in Donegal (4,335), Mayo (1,145), Antrim (1,035). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Donegal (257 per 10,000), Mayo (60 per 10,000), Louth (57 per 10,000).

How common was the Boyle surname in Ireland?

11,594 people were recorded as Boyle or O'Boyle in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 45th most common surname. That is roughly 0.3% of the population, or 1 person in 379.

Looking for a Boyle ancestor?

Search every Boyle household in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, with free images of the original forms.

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Baoighill, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Wikipedia, Boyle (surname) (2026)
  3. Wikipedia, Clan Boyle (2026)
  4. Wikipedia, Earl of Cork (2026)
  5. Wikipedia, O'Boyle (2026)
  6. Wiktionary, Boyle
  7. Wikipedia, Boylagh (2026)
  8. Wikipedia, Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (2026)
  9. Wikipedia, Robert Boyle (2026)
  10. Wikipedia, Lismore Castle (2026)
  11. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries 'Boyle (Earl of Cork and Orrery)', 'Boyle, or O'Boyle' and 'O'Boyle'.
  12. Census of Ireland 1901 and 1911, and Census of Population 1926, National Archives of Ireland. Counts compiled by surnames.ie from the irishcensus.com transcription (dataset 20260831130351). 1926 data © National Archives of Ireland, CC BY 4.0.
  13. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.