Burke

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Hiberno-Norman Hiberno-Norman: from the Anglo-Norman de Burgh family, which came to Ireland in the late 12th century and became thoroughly Gaelicised in Connacht.^[1][2]

Place

Where the Burkes 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.

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

The name over time

History

De Burgh: a Norman arrival

The name means 'of the burgh' or borough, and the family's earliest known ancestor was Walter de Burgh of Burgh Castle in Norfolk. Accounts of how they reached Ireland differ. Woulfe names the founder as William Fitz Adelm de Burgo, who came with Henry II in 1171 and received much of Connacht in 1179. Modern accounts, including the Dictionary of Irish Biography, describe William de Burgh (c. 1160–1205/6) as coming with Prince John in 1185. In their version John gave him a speculative grant of Connacht around 1195. His brother Hubert became Earl of Kent and justiciar of England.^{[1][2][12][13]}

Lords of Connacht, earls of Ulster

William's son Richard Mór de Burgh was granted Connacht in 1227 and served as justiciar of Ireland. Richard's son Walter received Ulster around 1255 and was styled Earl of Ulster. Woulfe credits the Ulster earldom to a de Lacy marriage, while Wikipedia describes a grant from Prince Edward. Either way, it made the Burkes the greatest Anglo-Norman family in Ireland. Walter's son Richard Óg, the 'Red Earl', was one of the most powerful magnates of his day. His daughter Elizabeth married Robert the Bruce and became Queen of Scots.^{[1][2][14][15]}

The Brown Earl and the Burke civil war

In June 1333 William Donn de Burgh, the 'Brown Earl' of Ulster, was murdered by members of his own household. He was about twenty and left only an infant daughter, who was taken to England. Her marriage later took the earldom to the English royal family. Rather than accept a female heir, the leading male Burkes followed Gaelic custom, which favoured succession by men. Woulfe says they adopted the Brehon law. Three of them fought over the inheritance until 1338. The Ulster lands were lost to Gaelic lords within a year, and what remained split into three lordships based in Galway, Mayo and Limerick.^{[1][10][16][2]}

Becoming Irish

The Connacht Burkes styled themselves Irish chiefs: Mac William Uachtar (the Upper MacWilliam) in Galway and Mac William Íochtar (the Lower) in Mayo. They took Irish names and customs, and Woulfe notes that they came to be regarded at one time as 'mere Irish'. The surname itself was Gaelicised as de Búrca and later Búrc. Lesser branches took new surnames from their own ancestors, among them MacDavid, MacPhilpin, Mac Seoinín, MacGibbon and MacRedmond.^[1][2][3]

Earls, viscounts and exiles

Under the Tudors both main lines came to terms with the Crown. Ulick na gCeann Burke surrendered his lands to Henry VIII and was made Earl of Clanricarde in 1543. His descendant Ulick, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (1604–1657), commanded for the Crown as a Catholic royalist in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In Mayo, Richard an Iarainn Bourke married Grace O'Malley, and their son Tibbot na Long, said to have been born at sea, became Viscount Mayo in 1627. The MacWilliam title was abolished in 1602, and one claimant fled to Spain, where he was made a marquess.^{[2][17][18][9][19][8]}

Later centuries

The Clanricarde family changed its name back to de Burgh in 1752, and its marquessate ended with the death of the last marquess in 1916. The Mayo line was raised to an earldom in 1785. Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, became Viceroy of India and was murdered in the Andaman Islands in 1872. Writing in 1923, Woulfe found the name very common all over Ireland. Burkes and Bourkes also made their mark abroad, among them Sir Richard Bourke, governor of New South Wales, and the explorer Robert O'Hara Burke.^{[2][1][20][21]}

Places linked to the name

• Portumna Castle, Co. Galway — A semi-fortified house that Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde, had built in the early 1600s.^[7]
• Kilmaine (Cill Mheáin), Co. Mayo — Inauguration site of the Mac William Íochtar, the Mayo Burkes.^[8]
• Athassel Priory, Co. Tipperary — Augustinian priory founded under the patronage of William de Burgh, who was buried there.^[22][13]
• Clanwilliam (Clann Liam), Co. Limerick — Barony named, according to P. W. Joyce, after the descendants of William de Burgh; Woulfe says the Burkes were its lords.^[11][1]
• Castleconnell, Co. Limerick — Seat of Sir Edmond de Burgh of Castleconnell and later of the Barons Bourke of Castleconnell, created 1580.^[10][2]

Everyday lives

The Burkes in the census

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

Burkes All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Burke bar

Given names

First names among the Burkes

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

Spellings

Spellings

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

Related forms

• Bourke — An equally old spelling of the same name, favoured by several branches, including the Mayo and Limerick lines.^[1][2]
• de Burgh / de Burgo — The original Norman form and its Latin version. The Clanricarde family returned to de Burgh in 1752.^[1][2][3]
• MacWilliam — Originally a chiefly title (Mac William Uachtar, Mac William Íochtar) rather than an everyday surname.^[1][6][8]
• MacDavid, MacPhilpin, Mac Seoinín, MacGibbon, MacRedmond — Surnames that minor Burke branches took from their own ancestors, according to Woulfe.^[1]

Diaspora

The Burkes abroad

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

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

Heraldry

Is there a Burke coat of arms?

People

Notable people named Burke

• William de Burgh (c. 1160–1205/6)
  Founder of the Burke family in Ireland; given a speculative grant of Connacht by King John.
• Richard Óg de Burgh, the 'Red Earl' (died 1326)
  2nd Earl of Ulster, one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman nobles in Ireland.
• Elizabeth de Burgh (c. 1289–1327)
  Daughter of the Red Earl and Queen of Scots as the wife of Robert the Bruce.
• Tibbot na Long Bourke (1567–1629)
  Son of Grace O'Malley, MacWilliam Íochtar and first Viscount Mayo.
• Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (1604–1657)
  Catholic royalist commander during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
• Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
  Anglo-Irish statesman and writer, widely seen as the founder of modern conservatism.
• Sir Richard Bourke (1777–1855)
  Governor of New South Wales who encouraged convict emancipation and the end of transportation.
• Sir Bernard Burke (1814–1892)
  Genealogist and Ulster King of Arms who helped publish Burke's Peerage.
• Robert O'Hara Burke (1821–1861)
  Irish-born leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition across Australia.
• Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo (1822–1872)
  Conservative statesman and Viceroy of India, assassinated in the Andaman Islands.
• Arleigh Burke (1901–1996)
  US admiral of the Second World War and Korea, later Chief of Naval Operations.
• Mary Robinson (née Bourke) (born 1944)
  President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, the country's first woman president.

Questions

Questions about the Burke name

Evidence

Sources

1. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames — De Búrc, De Búrca (1923)
2. Wikipedia, House of Burgh
3. Wikipedia, Burke (surname)
4. Wiktionary, de Búrca
5. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames — a Búrc (1923)
6. Wikipedia, Clanricarde
7. Wikipedia, Portumna Castle
8. Wikipedia, Mac William Íochtar
9. Wikipedia, Theobald Bourke, 1st Viscount Mayo
10. Wikipedia, Burke Civil War
11. Wikipedia, Clanwilliam (County Limerick)
12. Wikipedia, William de Burgh
13. Dictionary of Irish Biography, Burgh, William de
14. Wikipedia, Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster
15. Wikipedia, Elizabeth de Burgh
16. Wikipedia, William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster
17. Wikipedia, Ulick na gCeann Burke, 1st Earl of Clanricarde
18. Wikipedia, Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde
19. Dictionary of Irish Biography, Bourke (Burke), Theobald (Teabóid na Long, Tibbott-na-Long)
20. Wikipedia, Richard Bourke
21. Wikipedia, Robert O'Hara Burke
22. Wikipedia, Athassel Priory
23. Wikipedia, Red Hand of Ulster
24. Wiktionary, Burke
25. Wikipedia, Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo
26. 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.
27. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.