surnames.ie

Irish surname · 15th most common in 1911

Brown

Also spelt Browne

Brown and Browne are one name, from a nickname meaning 'brown', for hair, skin or clothing, and English or Norman (le Brun) in origin. It came to Ireland with the Anglo-Normans. The Brownes became a Tribe of Galway and later Earls of Kenmare and Marquesses of Sligo, while many Ulster Browns are of Scottish descent.

Irish de BrúnIrish Mac an Bhreitheamhnaigh
1901 census
18,945
#16 · 43 per 10,000
1911 census
18,872
#15 · 43 per 10,000
1926 census
9,725
#42 · 33 per 10,000
Most numerous
Antrim
Highest share: Down

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

English & Norman English and Anglo-Norman: a descriptive nickname that came to Ireland with the Normans, joined later by English planters and Scottish settlers in Ulster.[1][2][3]

de Brún
“the brown (Norman le Brun)”[1][4]
Woulfe's Irish form for both Brown and Browne. He also lists the shorter Brún, which keeps the same form for men and women.
Mac an Bhreitheamhnaigh
“son of the brehon (judge)”[5][6][2]
A Gaelic name usually anglicised Judge or Brehony. Woulfe says it was rendered Browne in Scotland, and Wikipedia says a Donegal family of the name has used Brown or Browne since about 1800.

The name is built on the personal name brūn (Old English) / brun (Old French), usually explained as “brown”. Brown is a nickname surname rather than one from a personal name, describing a person's hair, complexion or clothes. An Old English personal name Brun also existed, and Wikipedia notes it may have fed into the surname.[2][1]

Pronunciation

Brown: BROWN

Place

Where the Browns 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: 36.9 per 10,000 (623 people) Waterford: 49.3 per 10,000 (406 people) Dublin: 40 per 10,000 (1,919 people) Kilkenny: 15.7 per 10,000 (118 people) Carlow: 24.8 per 10,000 (90 people) Limerick: 31.5 per 10,000 (452 people) Louth: 16.8 per 10,000 (106 people) Tipperary: 20.8 per 10,000 (317 people) Roscommon: 16.2 per 10,000 (152 people) Meath: 27.8 per 10,000 (181 people) Wicklow: 30.4 per 10,000 (185 people) Cavan: 40.5 per 10,000 (370 people) Cork: 29 per 10,000 (1,140 people) Clare: 41.8 per 10,000 (437 people) Galway: 16.3 per 10,000 (297 people) Mayo: 47.4 per 10,000 (910 people) Sligo: 22 per 10,000 (174 people) Leitrim: 7.8 per 10,000 (49 people) Offaly: 22.7 per 10,000 (129 people) Laois: 19.4 per 10,000 (106 people) Kildare: 37.7 per 10,000 (252 people) Kerry: 32.4 per 10,000 (518 people) Monaghan: 32.2 per 10,000 (230 people) Wexford: 65.9 per 10,000 (675 people) Longford: 21.4 per 10,000 (94 people) Westmeath: 44.5 per 10,000 (268 people) Tyrone: 56.4 per 10,000 (806 people) Antrim: 68.5 per 10,000 (3,272 people) Armagh: 47.7 per 10,000 (571 people) Fermanagh: 44.6 per 10,000 (271 people) Londonderry: 81.2 per 10,000 (1,135 people) Down: 85.6 per 10,000 (2,619 people)
fewerup to 86 per 10,000

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

Highest concentration · 1911

Down

86 per 10,000

2,619 Browns · 1.99× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Down 86
  2. Londonderry 81
  3. Antrim 69
  4. Wexford 66
  5. Tyrone 56
  6. Waterford 49
  7. Armagh 48
  8. Mayo 47

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
Antrim3,1653,272—6969—
Armagh609571—4948—
Carlow8890127242537
Cavan424370261444132
Clare509437396454242
Cork1,2671,1401,145322931
Donegal783623611453740
Down2,4032,619—8386—
Dublin1,6901,9192,071394041
Fermanagh273271—4245—
Galway320297294171617
Kerry499518486303233
Kildare233252238383841
Kilkenny145118110191616
Laois110106115191922
Leitrim67495410810
Limerick506452454343233
Londonderry1,1271,135—7881—
Longford7894120172130
Louth116106104181717
Mayo966910760494744
Meath170181170242827
Monaghan257230166353226
Offaly167129108282321
Roscommon131152146131618
Sligo165174154212222
Tipperary331317294212121
Tyrone813806—5456—
Waterford406406342464944
Westmeath262268261424546
Wexford691675605666664
Wicklow174185133293023

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Browns made up the largest share of the population. In Mount Hamilton, Co. Tyrone, about one resident in 11 was a Brown.

DEDCountyBrownsShare
Mount HamiltonTyrone32 9.0%
DrumraneyWestmeath32 8.1%
KnockClare57 7.4%
The LoopLondonderry67 7.4%
BarleyhillCork52 6.1%
LettermoreDonegal44 6.1%
MonaseedWexford40 6.1%
Grey AbbeyDown76 6.0%

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

Brownes of Galway

Galway town and county · Galway

One of the fourteen merchant families known as the Tribes of Galway, twelve of which were of Anglo-Norman origin. O'Hart's pedigree gives them a Norman ancestry and credits an early member, Sir David, with building Carrabrowne Castle near Oranmore. Several Brownes were mayors of Galway, and the family later produced the Barons Oranmore and Browne.[1][7][8][9][10]

Brownes of The Neale (Barons Kilmaine)

The Neale, near Cong · Mayo

Woulfe counts the Brownes of the Neale among the leading families of the name in the 16th century. A Nova Scotia baronetcy was created for John Browne of The Neale in 1636, and the seventh baronet was made Baron Kilmaine in 1789. Burke gives them arms nearly identical to those of the English Brownes, Viscounts Montagu.[1][11][12]

Brownes of Westport (Marquesses of Sligo)

Westport and Clew Bay · Mayo

A younger branch of the Neale family, founded by Colonel John Browne, who built the first Westport House on the site of an O'Malley castle. His descendants rose through the peerage to become Marquesses of Sligo in 1800. Westport House stayed in the family until 2017.[13][14]

Brownes of Killarney (Earls of Kenmare)

Molahiffe, Ross and Killarney · Kerry

Founded by Sir Valentine Browne, an English official who surveyed Munster for the plantation and acquired large Kerry estates. Woulfe notes that the family arrived only under Elizabeth I, but through purchase and marriage gained lands of MacCarthy Mór, O'Sullivan Mór and O'Donoghue of Ross. They became baronets in 1622, viscounts under James II and Earls of Kenmare in 1801; the earldom ended in 1952.[1][15][16]

Brownes of Camus

Camus · Limerick

Described by Burke as an Anglo-Norman family. Descendants who left Ireland served the Habsburg and Russian empires: Burke records arms allowed in 1724 to two Counts Browne of the Holy Roman Empire of this line, and to Count George Browne, governor-general of Livonia in Russian service.[12][17][18]

Other 16th-century Browne families

Mulrankin, Hariston, Aney, Kilpatrick and Dunbrowne · Wexford, Waterford, Limerick, Westmeath, Kerry

Woulfe lists further prominent Browne families of the 16th century at Malrancan (Mulrankin) in Wexford, Hariston in Waterford, Aney in Limerick, Kilpatrick in Westmeath and Dunbrowne in Kerry. Burke and O'Hart both record a Browne line at Mulrankin, which O'Hart traces to a Sir Philip Browne, governor of Wexford after the invasion.[1][12][8]

Mac an Bhreitheamhnaigh of Donegal

Co. Donegal · Donegal

A Gaelic family of hereditary judges whose name means 'son of the brehon'. It is usually translated Judge, but Wikipedia says the Donegal family has anglicised it as Brown or Browne since about 1800, so a small number of Donegal Browns are of native Irish descent.[6][2][5]

The name over time

History

A colour name

Brown is one of the plainest of surnames. Wikipedia describes it as a nickname for someone with brown hair, a brown complexion or brown clothes, drawn from Old English brūn or Old French brun. Browne is simply another spelling, and the two forms have long been used interchangeably. Woulfe gives the Irish form as de Brún and traces it to the Norman le Brun, a name that was already very common in England and came into Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invasion. He found it very common in Ireland too, which reflects many separate arrivals rather than one family.[2][6][1]

The Brownes of Galway

In Galway the Brownes became one of the Tribes, the fourteen merchant families who ran the town's trade and government. The name 'Tribes' was first used scornfully by Cromwell's soldiers and later taken up with pride. O'Hart's 1892 pedigree claims a Norman descent and names Sir David Browne as builder of Carrabrowne Castle near Oranmore. Sir Dominick Browne, son of an alderman, was mayor in 1634 and MP for Athenry. He lost his Galway property in 1653 but kept part of his Mayo lands, and from him came the Barons Oranmore and Browne, created in 1836.[7][8][9][10]

The Brownes of Kenmare

The Kerry Brownes arrived much later. Sir Valentine Browne, an English official, became Surveyor General of Ireland in 1559 and in 1584 helped to survey the Munster lands forfeited after the Desmond rebellions. He acquired large estates in Kerry, including Molahiffe, and in 1588 leased Ross near Killarney from MacCarthy Mór. His descendants became baronets in 1622. James II made the third baronet Viscount Kenmare in 1689, a title the Protestant establishment refused to recognise, and the family was raised again as Earls of Kenmare in 1801. Woulfe remarks that as Earls of Kenmare they long held a prominent place in Irish social and public life.[15][19][16][1]

The Mayo Brownes: The Neale, Westport and Sligo

Wikipedia says the Brownes came to Mayo from Sussex in the 16th century. A baronetcy was created in 1636 for John Browne of The Neale, near Cong, though he never used the title. His younger son, Colonel John Browne, built the first Westport House on the site of the O'Malley castle of Cahernamart, and a John Browne who married Maud Bourke in 1669 linked the family to Grace O'Malley, her great-great-grandmother. Their descendants became Barons Mount Eagle in 1760, Earls of Altamont in 1771 and Marquesses of Sligo in 1800. The senior line at The Neale became Barons Kilmaine in 1789. Westport House was sold in 2017.[14][13][11]

Brownes of the Wild Geese

Like many Catholic gentry families, some Brownes made their careers abroad. The Brownes of Camus in Co. Limerick produced two notable soldiers. George Browne, born in Limerick in 1698, joined the Russian army in the 1720s, rose to general and governed Livonia for about thirty years until his death in Riga in 1792. His kinsman Maximilian Ulysses Browne, whose father was born in Limerick, became one of the Habsburg emperor's most senior commanders and died of wounds after the Battle of Prague in 1757. Burke records arms allowed to both branches.[18][17][12]

Brown in Ulster

The two spellings had different heartlands. Matheson's report on births registered in 1890 found Brown chiefly in Antrim, Londonderry, Down and Dublin, but Browne in Cork, Mayo, Wexford and Dublin. Many northern Browns are of Scottish descent: Wikipedia notes that the name is first recorded in East Lothian, in Lowland Scotland, and lists Brown among the surnames of Scottish settlers in Ulster between 1606 and 1641. The Ballymena-born Liverpool banker Sir William Brown is one example of an Ulster Brown who prospered across the water.[20][21][2][3][22]

Places linked to the name

  • Westport House, Co. Mayo — Built by the Brownes on the site of an O'Malley castle and their family seat until it was sold in 2017.[14][13]
  • The Neale, Co. Mayo — Seat of the senior Mayo Brownes, baronets from 1636 and later Barons Kilmaine.[11][1]
  • Ross Castle and Killarney, Co. Kerry — Ross Castle was the first Killarney home of the Kenmare Brownes, whose connection with Killarney lasted until 1985.[19][15]
  • Carrabrowne Castle, Co. Galway — Near Oranmore; O'Hart credits it to an early Galway Browne, and it gave a title to the Oranmore and Browne line.[8][10]
  • Galway, Co. Galway — City where the Brownes were one of the fourteen Tribes and held the mayoralty several times.[7][8][9]

Everyday lives

The Browns in the census

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

Browns All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Brown bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic −24.5 points vs Ireland
Browns 49.1%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland +9.3 points vs Ireland
Browns 22.5%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian +13.3 points vs Ireland
Browns 23.4%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other +1.9 points vs Ireland
Browns 5.0%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −4.5 points vs Ireland
Browns 10.8%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 −4.4 points vs Ireland
Browns 9.1%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties −1.4 points vs Ireland
Browns 12.1%
All of Ireland 13.5%

203 Browns spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ +2.9 points vs Ireland
Browns 83.3%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ +2.3 points vs Ireland
Browns 88.1%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 4,088 households lower than Ireland
Browns 4.64
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 lower than Ireland
Browns 6.12
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living −1.3 points vs Ireland
Browns 78.5%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer2,819
Farmer's son1,191
Farmer's daughter660
General labourer598
Agricultural labourer479
Farm servant455
Labourer435
House keeper433
Farm labourer328
Seamstress316

Born outside Ireland

6.4% of Browns in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England779
Scotland318
United States59
India24
Canada6
Wales6

Median age: 24 in 1901, 26 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Browns

Men and boys

  1. John2,984
  2. James2,252
  3. William1,827
  4. Patrick1,538
  5. Thomas1,509
  6. Michael1,027
  7. Robert866
  8. Joseph607
  9. George482
  10. Samuel450

Women and girls

  1. Mary3,049
  2. Margaret1,294
  3. Bridget999
  4. Annie913
  5. Ellen889
  6. Elizabeth842
  7. Sarah766
  8. Catherine661
  9. Jane606
  10. Maggie514

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

Spellings

Spellings

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

Spelling190119111926Records
Brown11,65811,5703,710Search
Browne7,2877,3026,015Search

Related forms

  • Browne — The same name with a final e; the spelling favoured by the Galway, Kenmare, Sligo and Kilmaine families.[6][1]
  • de Brún, Brún — The Irish forms given by Woulfe.[1][4]
  • le Brun, de Brune — The Norman form and an early written form behind the Irish name.[1][6]
  • Broun — An older spelling, common in Scottish records.[2]
  • O Browne — A 16th-century Kerry spelling of the Gaelic Ó Braoin, now Breen; a different name altogether.[23]

Diaspora

The Browns abroad

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

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Brown1,437,0264th
Browne22,2891615th

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

Heraldry

Is there a Brown coat of arms?

There is no single Brown or Browne crest: Burke's General Armory lists many separate Brown and Browne arms, a good number of them Irish. For the Earls of Kenmare he records three black martlets on silver between two flanks bearing lions, with the motto 'Loyal en tout'. The Marquesses of Sligo and Lords Kilmaine bore three silver lions on black with the motto 'Suivez raison', close to the arms of the English Viscounts Montagu. Several Galway Browne lines used a black eagle and the motto 'Fortiter et fideliter'.[12]

Websites selling a single “Brown 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 Brown

  • Sir Valentine Browne (d. 1589)
    English official, Surveyor General of Ireland, who surveyed Munster for its plantation; ancestor of the Earls of Kenmare.
  • Sir Dominick Browne (c. 1585–c. 1656)
    Galway merchant, mayor and MP for Athenry, ancestor of the Barons Oranmore and Browne.
  • Mary Bonaventure Browne (fl. 1640s–1670)
    Poor Clare abbess in Galway from a Tribes family, who wrote a large work in Irish in exile.
  • George Browne (1698–1792)
    Limerick-born Russian general who governed Livonia for about thirty years.
  • Maximilian Ulysses Browne (1705–1757)
    Habsburg field marshal of Limerick descent, mortally wounded at the Battle of Prague.
  • Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet (1784–1864)
    Ballymena-born Liverpool merchant and banker, co-founder of Brown, Shipley & Co. and Liberal MP.
  • Frances Browne (1816–1879)
    Donegal poet and novelist, blind from infancy, author of Granny's Wonderful Chair.
  • Michael Browne (1887–1971)
    Tipperary-born Dominican who led his order from 1955 to 1962 and became a cardinal.
  • Noël Browne (1915–1997)
    Doctor and Minister for Health who fought tuberculosis and resigned over the Mother and Child Scheme.
  • Christy Brown (1932–1981)
    Dublin writer and painter whose autobiography My Left Foot became an Oscar-winning film.
  • Garech Browne (1939–2018)
    Arts patron who founded Claddagh Records, a key label for Irish traditional music.
  • Vincent Browne (born 1944)
    Limerick-born journalist and broadcaster, a long-time current affairs presenter on RTÉ and TV3.

Questions

Questions about the Brown name

Is Brown an Irish surname?

It is English or Norman in origin but has been in Ireland since the Anglo-Norman invasion. The Brownes became one of the Tribes of Galway, and later families became Earls of Kenmare in Kerry and Marquesses of Sligo in Mayo. Many Ulster Browns descend from Scottish settlers, and a Donegal Gaelic family also adopted the name.[1][7][16][13][3][6]

Are Brown and Browne the same name?

Yes. Browne is a variant spelling of Brown, and Woulfe gives both as English forms of the same Irish name, de Brún. The final e was favoured by the old landed families of Galway, Mayo and Kerry. Matheson's report on births registered in 1890 found Browne mostly in Cork, Mayo, Wexford and Dublin, and Brown mostly in Antrim, Londonderry, Down and Dublin.[6][1][20][21]

What is Brown in Irish?

The usual Irish form is de Brún, from the Norman le Brun, 'the brown'. Woulfe also gives the shorter Brún. Woulfe classes it among the surnames that keep the same form for women, giving Máire Brún as the Irish for Mary Brown.[1][4][24]

Were the Brownes one of the Tribes of Galway?

Yes. Browne was one of the fourteen merchant families who dominated Galway's trade and government. Cromwell's forces called them 'the Tribes' as an insult, and the families later adopted the label in defiance. Members of the family served as mayors, and Sir Dominick Browne, mayor in 1634, was the ancestor of the Barons Oranmore and Browne.[7][9][8]

Is Brown Scottish, English or Irish?

It can be any of the three. The name is a colour nickname found all over Britain; Wikipedia notes early records in East Lothian, Scotland. The Irish Brownes of Galway, Mayo and Kerry were of Norman or English descent, while many Ulster Browns came with Scottish settlers in the 17th century. A family's own records are the only sure guide.[2][1][14][3]

Is there a Browne family crest or coat of arms?

Not one for every Brown. Burke's General Armory records many separate Browne arms. The Earls of Kenmare used the motto 'Loyal en tout', the Marquesses of Sligo and Lords Kilmaine 'Suivez raison', and several Galway lines 'Fortiter et fideliter'. Each set of arms belonged to a particular family, not to the surname.[12]

Where in Ireland is the Brown surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Browns lived in Antrim (3,272), Down (2,619), Dublin (1,919). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Down (86 per 10,000), Londonderry (81 per 10,000), Antrim (69 per 10,000).

How common was the Brown surname in Ireland?

18,872 people were recorded as Brown or Browne in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 15th most common surname. That is roughly 0.4% of the population, or 1 person in 233.

Looking for a Brown ancestor?

Search every Brown 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, de Brún, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Wikipedia, Brown (surname) (2026)
  3. Wikipedia, Scottish names in Ulster (2026)
  4. Patrick Woulfe, Brún, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  5. Patrick Woulfe, Mac an Bhreitheamhan, Mac an Bhreitheamhnaigh, Mac an Bhreithimh, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  6. Wikipedia, Browne (2026)
  7. Wikipedia, Tribes of Galway (2026)
  8. John O'Hart, Browne family genealogy (of Kilskeagh, Co. Galway), in Irish Pedigrees (1892)
  9. Wikipedia, Sir Dominick Browne (2026)
  10. Wikipedia, Baron Oranmore and Browne (2026)
  11. Wikipedia, Baron Kilmaine (2026)
  12. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries under 'Browne', including Earl of Kenmare, Marquess of Sligo, Lord Kilmaine, Lord Oranmore, the Galway lines and Camus.
  13. Wikipedia, Marquess of Sligo (2026)
  14. Wikipedia, Westport House (2026)
  15. Wikipedia, Sir Valentine Browne (2026)
  16. Wikipedia, Earl of Kenmare (2026)
  17. Wikipedia, Maximilian Ulysses Browne (2026)
  18. Wikipedia, George Browne (soldier) (2026)
  19. Wikipedia, Kenmare House (2026)
  20. Robert E. Matheson, Special Report on Surnames in Ireland: Brown (1909). Based on births registered in 1890.
  21. Robert E. Matheson, Special Report on Surnames in Ireland: Browne (1909). Based on births registered in 1890.
  22. Wikipedia, Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet, of Richmond Hill (2026)
  23. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Braoin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  24. Patrick Woulfe, Irish Surnames of Females, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  25. 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.
  26. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.