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Surnames by county · Leinster

Most common surnames in County Carlow

Byrne was the commonest surname in Co. Carlow in 1911: 1,796 people, about one resident in 20. It was followed by Doyle, Murphy, Nolan and Kelly.

Counts are people living in the county on census night, with spelling variants combined (Sullivan and O'Sullivan count as one name).

Donegal Waterford Dublin Kilkenny Carlow Limerick Louth Tipperary Roscommon Meath Wicklow Cavan Cork Clare Galway Mayo Sligo Leitrim Offaly Laois Kildare Kerry Monaghan Wexford Longford Westmeath Tyrone Antrim Armagh Fermanagh Londonderry Down

The 25 commonest names, 1911

#SurnamePeoplePer 10,00019011926
1 Byrne 1,796 494 1 1
2 Doyle 1,569 432 3 2
3 Murphy 1,462 402 2 3
4 Nolan 1,182 325 4 4
5 Kelly 750 206 6 5
6 O'Neill 744 205 5 6
7 Brennan 510 140 7 7
8 Kavanagh 476 131 8 8
9 Ryan 468 129 9 9
10 Walsh 439 121 10 10
11 O'Brien 394 108 11 11
12 Whelan 362 100 12 12
13 McDonald 316 87 13 14
14 Kehoe 309 85 14 19
15 Maher 289 80 15 18
16 Farrell 275 76 17 13
17 O'Donoghue 270 74 16 15
18 Smith 213 59 26 40
19 O'Connor 211 58 28 16
20 Foley 201 55 22 22
21 Dowling 193 53 20 17
22 Toole 191 53 25 25
23 Kinsella 186 51 19 21
24 Fitzpatrick 184 51 18 23
25 Keating 182 50 35 36

The 1901 and 1926 columns give the name's rank in the county in that year; a dash means it was outside the top 40. Linked names have a full page with meaning, Irish forms and history.

Names most typical of Carlow

Among the 100 commonest Irish surnames, these were the most over-represented in Co. Carlow in 1911, compared with their share of Ireland's population as a whole.

  1. Nolan 12.04× 1,182 people · 325 per 10,000
  2. Doyle 9.28× 1,569 people · 432 per 10,000
  3. Byrne 7.32× 1,796 people · 494 per 10,000
  4. Kavanagh 5.69× 476 people · 131 per 10,000
  5. Whelan 5.27× 362 people · 100 per 10,000
  6. McDonald 4.91× 316 people · 87 per 10,000
  7. Maher 4.52× 289 people · 80 per 10,000
  8. Brennan 4.21× 510 people · 140 per 10,000
  9. O'Neill 3.53× 744 people · 205 per 10,000
  10. Murphy 3.16× 1,462 people · 402 per 10,000

Questions about surnames in Carlow

What is the most common surname in County Carlow?

In the 1911 census the most common surname in Co. Carlow was Byrne, with 1,796 people, or about one resident in 20. The next most common were Doyle, Murphy, Nolan and Kelly. Byrne was still the commonest name in 1926.

Which surnames are most typical of County Carlow?

Compared with Ireland as a whole, the names most over-represented in Co. Carlow in 1911 (among the 100 commonest Irish surnames) were Nolan (12.04× the national rate), Doyle (9.28× the national rate), Byrne (7.32× the national rate).

Ancestors from County Carlow?

Browse every townland and household in Co. Carlow in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses.

Carlow records on irishcensus.com