surnames.ie

Irish surname · 88th most common in 1911

Griffin

Griffin is usually the English form of Ó Gríofa (older Ó Gríobhtha), a Dalcassian family of north Clare whose castle stood at Ballygriffy. The same spelling also absorbed a Kerry name, Ó Grífín, a Connacht name, Ó Gríobhtháin, and a Welsh personal name brought to Ireland around the Anglo-Norman invasion.

Irish Ó Gríobhtha · Ó GríofaIrish Ó Gríbhthín · Ó GrífínIrish Ó GríobhtháinIrish Grífin
1901 census
7,735
#88 · 18 per 10,000
1911 census
7,582
#88 · 17 per 10,000
1926 census
6,798
#73 · 23 per 10,000
Most numerous
Kerry
Highest share: Kerry

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic & Welsh (merged) Mostly Gaelic Irish, from the Clare family Ó Gríofa and smaller Munster and Connacht names, merged with a Welsh-derived Griffin found in Ireland since the Anglo-Norman period.[1][2][3][4]

Ó Gríobhtha
Modern spelling: Ó Gríofa
“descendant of Gríobhtha”[1][5][6]
Woulfe's headword for the Clare family. Gaois and Wikipedia give Ó Gríofa as the modern spelling; a woman uses Ní Ghríofa.
Ó Gríbhthín
Modern spelling: Ó Grífín
“descendant of Gríbhthín”[2][6][5]
A Munster name which Woulfe thought might be a variant of Ó Gríobhtha. Wikipedia links it especially with Kerry, and Gaois lists Ó Grífín as an alternative Irish form of Griffin.
Ó Gríobhtháin
“descendant of Gríobhthán”[3]
A separate Connacht surname, found mainly in Galway and Mayo, and also rendered Greaven or Greven.
Grífin
“the Welsh personal name Gruffin”[4]
Woulfe's entry for the Welsh-derived Griffin family of the Anglo-Norman period.

The name is built on the personal name Gríobhtha, usually explained as “griffin-like, hence a fierce warrior”. Woulfe glosses the Gaelic name this way, and Wikipedia translates Ó Gríofa as 'descendant of the griffin-like'. The Welsh name behind the other Griffins is quite different: Woulfe traces it to Latin Rufinus, a diminutive of Rufus, 'red-haired'.[1][6][4]

Pronunciation

Griffin: GRIF-in

Place

Where the Griffins 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: 12.7 per 10,000 (214 people) Waterford: 35.2 per 10,000 (290 people) Dublin: 10.9 per 10,000 (523 people) Kilkenny: 14 per 10,000 (105 people) Carlow: 8 per 10,000 (29 people) Limerick: 38.9 per 10,000 (557 people) Louth: 2.9 per 10,000 (18 people) Tipperary: 21.6 per 10,000 (330 people) Roscommon: 18.3 per 10,000 (172 people) Meath: 9 per 10,000 (59 people) Wicklow: 20.4 per 10,000 (124 people) Cavan: 1.8 per 10,000 (16 people) Cork: 19.5 per 10,000 (767 people) Clare: 71.4 per 10,000 (746 people) Galway: 35.2 per 10,000 (642 people) Mayo: 15.5 per 10,000 (298 people) Sligo: 3.3 per 10,000 (26 people) Leitrim: 10.3 per 10,000 (65 people) Offaly: 4.4 per 10,000 (25 people) Laois: 2.9 per 10,000 (16 people) Kildare: 8.4 per 10,000 (56 people) Kerry: 128.9 per 10,000 (2,060 people) Monaghan: 3.8 per 10,000 (27 people) Wexford: 4.9 per 10,000 (50 people) Longford: 4.1 per 10,000 (18 people) Westmeath: 2.8 per 10,000 (17 people) Tyrone: 3.9 per 10,000 (56 people) Antrim: 3.2 per 10,000 (152 people) Armagh: 0.8 per 10,000 (9 people) Fermanagh: 4.1 per 10,000 (25 people) Londonderry: 1.9 per 10,000 (27 people) Down: 2.1 per 10,000 (63 people)
fewerup to 129 per 10,000

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

Highest concentration · 1911

Kerry

129 per 10,000

2,060 Griffins · 7.46× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Kerry 129
  2. Clare 71
  3. Limerick 39
  4. Galway 35
  5. Waterford 35
  6. Tipperary 22
  7. Wicklow 20
  8. Cork 20

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
Antrim179152—43—
Armagh159—11—
Carlow312926888
Cavan9166121
Clare786746613707165
Cork836767784212022
Donegal238214170141311
Down7063—22—
Dublin475523545111111
Fermanagh3125—54—
Galway679642631353537
Kerry2,0702,0601,837125129123
Kildare355636686
Kilkenny110105130151418
Laois121614233
Leitrim6465419107
Limerick527557557363940
Londonderry3727—32—
Longford111823246
Louth171823334
Mayo369298285191617
Meath615947998
Monaghan302718443
Offaly23257441
Roscommon185172164181820
Sligo182624233
Tipperary333330361212226
Tyrone6256—44—
Waterford245290251283532
Westmeath191725334
Wexford485061556
Wicklow110124119182021

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Griffins made up the largest share of the population. In Kinard, Co. Kerry, about one resident in 5 was a Griffin.

DEDCountyGriffinsShare
KinardKerry172 18.8%
KilgobbanKerry41 10.4%
GlanbehyKerry212 10.2%
BallinadeeCork46 9.7%
BallinspittleCork54 8.9%
LackKerry36 6.7%
QuerrinClare33 6.3%
Adare NorthLimerick28 6.3%

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

Ó Gríobhtha (Ó Gríofa) of Cineál Cuallachta

Cineál Cuallachta, in the south-east of the barony of Inchiquin, with a castle at Ballygriffy · Clare

A Dalcassian family who were chiefs of Cineál Cuallachta in Thomond. Wikipedia places them among the Uí Fhearmaic, of the same stock as the O'Deas and the O'Quins, and notes that the barony of Inchiquin matches the territory these three families ruled. Woulfe found the name common in Thomond, where it was normally anglicised Griffin.[1][6][7]

Ó Gríbhthín (Ó Grífín) of Munster

Kerry, west Limerick and west Cork · Kerry, Limerick, Cork

Woulfe calls this a Munster surname and suggests it may be a variant of Ó Gríobhtha. Wikipedia ties it specifically to Kerry, west Limerick and west Cork, and notes that the Irish form was still in use among Kerry speakers recorded by the National Folklore Collection.[2][6]

Ó Gríobhtháin of Connacht

Galway and Mayo · Galway, Mayo

A distinct surname from the diminutive Gríobhthán. Woulfe records it chiefly in Galway and Mayo, where it was anglicised Griffin as well as Greaven and Greven.[3]

Griffin of Welsh origin

Anglo-Norman Ireland

Woulfe describes a family bearing the Welsh personal name Griffin who came to Ireland around the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. He notes that Griffin appears often in early Anglo-Irish records, while the Welsh form Gruffud is almost absent.[4]

The name over time

History

A Clare name with a Welsh namesake

Most Irish Griffins descend from Gaelic families whose names merely sounded like the English word. The chief of these is Ó Gríobhtha, now spelt Ó Gríofa, a Dalcassian family of north Clare. Smaller contributions came from Ó Gríbhthín in Kerry and Ó Gríobhtháin in Galway and Mayo. Separately, a Welsh personal name, Griffin, reached Ireland with the Anglo-Normans and became a surname here too. Gaois groups Ó Gríofa, Ó Gríobhtha and Ó Grífín together as the Irish forms of Griffin, with Griffith and Griffiths as alternative English spellings.[1][2][3][4][5]

Chiefs of Cineál Cuallachta

The Clare family were chiefs of Cineál Cuallachta, a district in the south-east of the barony of Inchiquin, and held a castle at Ballygriffy. Wikipedia describes them as a branch of the Dál gCais, sharing descent with the O'Deas and O'Quins in the Uí Fhearmaic, and notes that Inchiquin barony corresponds to the old Uí Fhearmaic territory. The townlands of Ballygriffy North and South still lie in the civil parish of Dysert. Their English name took many shapes over the centuries, including O'Griffy, Griffey and Greehy, before Griffin became the usual form.[1][6][7][8]

In the medieval record

The family appear in Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh, a chronicle of the wars of Toirdhealbhach Ó Briain, king of Thomond, written around 1310 to 1320. It names Tomás mac Urthaile Ó Gríofa as both a military leader and an envoy who negotiated for the Dalcassians with the Anglo-Norman de Clares. A later member, Mathgamhain Ó Gríobhtha, was Bishop of Killaloe from 1463 until he died in 1483. The Annals of the Four Masters record his death, and he was buried at the Augustinian house on Canons' Island in Corcovaskin.[6][9]

Welsh Griffins in Ireland

Woulfe explains that the other Griffin comes from a common Welsh personal name, which he links with Latin Rufinus, a diminutive of Rufus, 'of ruddy complexion'. Its relative Gruffudd gave the Welsh surnames Griffith and Griffiths. He cites Grifin son of Mariadoc, evidently a Welshman, among the tenants-in-chief listed in Domesday Book. In Ireland the name turns up frequently in early Anglo-Irish documents, and Woulfe dates the family's arrival to about the time of the invasion. A related form, Mac Grífín, 'son of Griffin', gave MacGriffin.[4][10]

Kerry, Connacht and some look-alikes

Kerry has a long-established Griffin population. Wikipedia connects it with Ó Gríbhthín, modern Ó Grífín, which Woulfe calls a Munster name and possibly a variant of the Clare surname. In Connacht, Ó Gríobhtháin of Galway and Mayo was anglicised Griffin alongside Greaven and Greven. Woulfe also notes that local spoken forms of Mag Niallghuis in the same two counties occasionally ended up as Griffin, though Grealish was the usual result. A Griffin from the west may therefore have no link with Clare at all.[6][2][3][11]

Scribes, writers and the Constitution

Clare Griffins have a notable place in Irish letters. The novelist Gerald Griffin, author of The Collegians (1829), came from a family that had moved from Clare into Limerick. Mártán Ó Gríobhtha, a blacksmith and scribe from Kilrush, copied a manuscript of 881 pages of Fenian and other tales in 1842 and 1843. In the 20th century Mícheál Ó Gríobhtha, a civil servant and author from Clare, prepared the first Irish-language draft of Bunreacht na hÉireann in 1936 at Éamon de Valera's request.[6][12]

Places linked to the name

  • Ballygriffy, Co. Clare — Site of the castle of the Ó Gríobhtha chiefs; the townlands of Ballygriffy North and South lie in the civil parish of Dysert.[1][8]
  • Inchiquin (Inse Uí Chuinn), Co. Clare — Barony matching the Uí Fhearmaic territory ruled by the O'Deas, Quins and Griffins; Cineál Cuallachta lay in its south-east.[7][1]
  • Violet Hill, Bray, Co. Wicklow — Home of the Griffin family whose arms Burke records.[13]

Everyday lives

The Griffins in the census

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

Griffins All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Griffin bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +19.8 points vs Ireland
Griffins 93.4%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −7.7 points vs Ireland
Griffins 5.5%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian −9.6 points vs Ireland
Griffins 0.5%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −2.4 points vs Ireland
Griffins 0.7%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 +21.6 points vs Ireland
Griffins 36.9%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 +18.8 points vs Ireland
Griffins 32.3%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties +7.2 points vs Ireland
Griffins 20.7%
All of Ireland 13.5%

187 Griffins spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ −4.1 points vs Ireland
Griffins 76.3%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ −2.1 points vs Ireland
Griffins 83.7%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 1,505 households higher than Ireland
Griffins 4.97
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 higher than Ireland
Griffins 7.09
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living about the same as Ireland
Griffins 80.1%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer1,447
Farmer's son760
Farmer's daughter375
Agricultural labourer291
General labourer241
Labourer207
Farm servant205
Farm labourer173
Farmer's wife151
House keeper147

Born outside Ireland

1.1% of Griffins in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England34
United States24
Scotland15
India4
Australia & NZ3
Wales3

Median age: 22 in 1901, 24 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Griffins

Men and boys

  1. John1,831
  2. Patrick1,304
  3. Michael1,202
  4. Thomas947
  5. James921
  6. William425
  7. Daniel328
  8. Martin293
  9. Denis238
  10. Timothy181

Women and girls

  1. Mary2,080
  2. Bridget924
  3. Margaret666
  4. Ellen601
  5. Catherine400
  6. Kate391
  7. Annie290
  8. Norah221
  9. Johanna204
  10. Elizabeth202

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

Spellings

Spellings

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

Spelling190119111926Records
Griffin7,7357,5826,798Search

Related forms

  • O'Griffy, Griffy, Griffey — Older English forms of Ó Gríobhtha from Clare.[1][6]
  • Greehy — Another English rendering of Ó Gríobhtha recorded by Woulfe.[1]
  • Griffith, Griffiths — Normally Welsh names from Gruffudd, but Woulfe and Gaois show they were also used for Irish families of Ó Gríobhtha and Ó Gríobhtháin.[4][1][3][5]
  • Greaven, Greven — Connacht forms of Ó Gríobhtháin, which was also anglicised Griffin.[3]
  • MacGriffin — From Mac Grífín, 'son of Griffin', the Welsh personal name.[10]
  • Ní Ghríofa — The Irish form used by women.[6]

Diaspora

The Griffins abroad

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

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Griffin198,406122nd

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

Heraldry

Is there a Griffin coat of arms?

There is no single Griffin coat of arms: arms belonged to particular families. Burke's General Armory records arms confirmed to Edward Lysaght Griffin of Violet Hill, Bray, Co. Wicklow, son of Henry Griffin, Bishop of Limerick: on silver, a chevron between three red bucks' heads, charged with an annulet between two gold fleurs-de-lis, with a demi-griffin crest and the motto 'Fide et fortitudine'. Burke lists several other, unrelated Griffin arms for English and Welsh families.[13]

Websites selling a single “Griffin 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 Griffin

  • Cyrus Griffin (1748–1810)
    Virginia lawyer, the last President of the Congress of the Confederation and later a federal judge.
  • Gerald Griffin (1803–1840)
    Limerick novelist and playwright whose The Collegians inspired Boucicault's The Colleen Bawn.
  • Walter Burley Griffin (1876–1937)
    American architect who designed Canberra, Australia's capital, with his wife Marion Mahony Griffin.
  • Bernard Griffin (1899–1956)
    English cardinal and Archbishop of Westminster from 1943 until his death.
  • Victor Griffin (1924–2017)
    Wicklow-born Church of Ireland priest and author, a strongly liberal voice in Irish public life.
  • Merv Griffin (1925–2007)
    American talk-show host and media businessman who created Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
  • Johnny Griffin (1928–2008)
    American jazz tenor saxophonist known as 'the Little Giant', a pioneer of hard bop.
  • Liam Griffin (born 1946)
    Former Wexford and Clare hurler who managed Wexford in 1995 and 1996.
  • Patty Griffin (born 1964)
    American folk singer-songwriter whose songs have been widely covered by other artists.
  • Colin Griffin (born 1982)
    Irish race walker who has competed at two Olympic Games.

Questions

Questions about the Griffin name

Is Griffin an Irish surname?

Usually, yes. In Ireland Griffin is mostly the English form of Ó Gríofa, a Dalcassian family of north Clare, with smaller contributions from Ó Grífín in Kerry and Ó Gríobhtháin in Galway and Mayo. A minority of Irish Griffins descend from a family bearing a Welsh personal name, who settled here around the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion.[1][2][3][4]

What is Griffin in Irish?

The usual Irish form is Ó Gríofa, spelt Ó Gríobhtha before the spelling reform, meaning 'descendant of Gríobhtha'. A woman uses Ní Ghríofa. Gaois also lists Ó Grífín, the Kerry form, as an alternative. In Galway and Mayo some Griffins descend from Ó Gríobhtháin, a different name.[5][6][1][3]

Is Griffin Irish or Welsh?

It can be either. The Welsh personal name Griffin, which Woulfe links with Latin Rufinus, gave rise to an Anglo-Norman-era family in Ireland, and in Wales Griffin is generally a variant of Griffith. But most Irish Griffins come from the native Clare name Ó Gríofa, which only came to be written Griffin because it sounded similar.[4][6][1]

Does the name Griffin come from the mythical griffin?

Not directly. The Gaelic personal name Gríobhtha is glossed by Woulfe as 'griffin-like', meaning a fierce warrior, so there is a link in meaning for the Clare family. The Welsh Griffin, however, is a personal name that Woulfe traces back to Latin Rufinus, 'ruddy', and has nothing to do with the beast.[1][4]

Where does the Griffin name come from in Ireland?

The heartland is Clare, where the Ó Gríobhtha family were chiefs of Cineál Cuallachta in the barony of Inchiquin, with a castle at Ballygriffy in Dysert parish. Kerry, west Limerick and west Cork had their own Ó Grífín families, and Galway and Mayo had Ó Gríobhtháin, so the county a family comes from is a useful clue.[1][8][6][3]

Is there a Griffin family crest or coat of arms?

No single crest belongs to every Griffin. Burke's General Armory records arms for the Griffins of Violet Hill, Bray, Co. Wicklow, with a demi-griffin crest and the motto 'Fide et fortitudine' ('By faith and fortitude'), and separate arms for several English and Welsh Griffin families. Each grant belonged to the family named.[13]

Are Griffin and Griffith the same name?

Sometimes. Griffith and Griffiths are Welsh surnames from Gruffudd, but in Ireland they were also used as English forms of Ó Gríobhtha and Ó Gríobhtháin, and Gaois lists them as alternatives to Griffin. A Griffith family in Clare or Connacht may share the same Gaelic origin as local Griffins.[4][1][3][5]

Where in Ireland is the Griffin surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Griffins lived in Kerry (2,060), Cork (767), Clare (746). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Kerry (129 per 10,000), Clare (71 per 10,000), Limerick (39 per 10,000).

How common was the Griffin surname in Ireland?

7,582 people were recorded as Griffin in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 88th most common surname. That is roughly 0.2% of the population, or 1 person in 578.

Looking for a Griffin ancestor?

Search every Griffin 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 Gríobhtha, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Gríbhthín, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  3. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Gríobhtháin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  4. Patrick Woulfe, Grífin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  5. Gaois research group, Dublin City University, Sloinnte: Irish surname data (version 2) (2022). Cluster 'Gríofach': Ó Gríofa, Ó Gríobhtha, Ó Grífín; Griffin, Griffith, Griffiths.
  6. Wikipedia, Griffin (surname) (2026)
  7. Wikipedia, Inchiquin (2026)
  8. Wikipedia, Dysert, County Clare (2026)
  9. Wikipedia, Cathreim Thoirdhealbhaigh (2026)
  10. Patrick Woulfe, Mac Grífín, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  11. Patrick Woulfe, Mag Raillghuis, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  12. Wikipedia, Gerald Griffin (2026)
  13. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries under 'Griffin', including Griffin of Violet Hill, Bray, co. Wicklow.
  14. 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.

How we compile these figures: methodology.