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Surnames by county · Leinster

Most common surnames in County Kildare

Kelly was the commonest surname in Co. Kildare in 1911: 1,524 people, about one resident in 44. It was followed by Byrne, Murphy, Dunne and Doyle.

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 Kelly 1,524 228 1 1
2 Byrne 1,478 221 2 2
3 Murphy 1,050 157 4 3
4 Dunne 1,002 150 3 4
5 Doyle 906 136 5 5
6 Nolan 712 107 6 6
7 Farrell 603 90 7 7
8 O'Brien 593 89 8 8
9 Smith 506 76 10 13
10 O'Neill 466 70 11 9
11 Walsh 455 68 9 10
12 O'Connor 454 68 12 11
13 Dowling 440 66 13 12
14 Moore 416 62 16 14
15 Kavanagh 404 60 14 16
16 Behan 400 60 19 21
17 Ryan 385 58 18 17
18 Connolly 384 57 15 18
19 Dempsey 382 57 24 19
20 Whelan 378 57 17 15
21 Burke 360 54 26 20
22 O'Reilly 334 50 21 22
23 Brennan 330 49 20 23
24 Carroll 296 44 22 26
25 Quinn 294 44 31 32

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 Kildare

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

  1. Dunne 4.76× 1,002 people · 150 per 10,000
  2. Nolan 3.94× 712 people · 107 per 10,000
  3. Byrne 3.27× 1,478 people · 221 per 10,000
  4. Farrell 2.99× 603 people · 90 per 10,000
  5. Whelan 2.99× 378 people · 57 per 10,000
  6. Doyle 2.91× 906 people · 136 per 10,000
  7. Kavanagh 2.62× 404 people · 60 per 10,000
  8. Cullen 2.49× 274 people · 41 per 10,000
  9. Kelly 2.15× 1,524 people · 228 per 10,000
  10. Flanagan 2.03× 230 people · 34 per 10,000

Questions about surnames in Kildare

What is the most common surname in County Kildare?

In the 1911 census the most common surname in Co. Kildare was Kelly, with 1,524 people, or about one resident in 44. The next most common were Byrne, Murphy, Dunne and Doyle. Kelly was still the commonest name in 1926.

Which surnames are most typical of County Kildare?

Compared with Ireland as a whole, the names most over-represented in Co. Kildare in 1911 (among the 100 commonest Irish surnames) were Dunne (4.76× the national rate), Nolan (3.94× the national rate), Byrne (3.27× the national rate).

Ancestors from County Kildare?

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

Kildare records on irishcensus.com