surnames.ie

Irish surname · 48th most common in 1911

O'Shea

Also spelt Shea

O'Shea is the English form of Ó Séaghdha, 'descendant of Séaghdha', a personal name Woulfe glosses as stately or courteous. The family belonged to Corca Dhuibhne in west Kerry and were lords of Iveragh; a branch became wealthy merchants in Kilkenny, where the name was usually written Shee.

Irish Ó Séaghdha · Ó SéIrish Ua Ségda, Ua Seaghdha
1901 census
11,998
#43 · 27 per 10,000
1911 census
11,511
#48 · 26 per 10,000
1926 census
10,964
#33 · 37 per 10,000
Most numerous
Kerry
Highest share: Kerry

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic Gaelic Irish: a Kerry sept of Corca Dhuibhne, with a prominent merchant branch in Kilkenny and a small, little-known family of the name in north Mayo.[1][2]

Ó Séaghdha
Modern spelling: Ó Sé
“descendant of Séaghdha”[1][3][4]
Woulfe's headword. Wikipedia gives Ó Sé as the current Irish spelling, used today by public figures such as the Kerry footballer Páidí Ó Sé.
Ua Ségda, Ua Seaghdha
“earlier spellings”[5][2]
Wikipedia's article on Sir Richard Shee traces the Kilkenny Shees to the Gaelic lords it calls Ua Seaghdha of the Iveragh peninsula, and the Annals of Inisfallen, as summarised in Wikipedia's Corcu Duibne article, name several kings of Corcu Duibne called Ua Ségda.

The name is built on the personal name Séaghdha, usually explained as “stately, majestic or courteous; also learned or skilled”. Woulfe gives both groups of meanings without choosing between them.[1]

Pronunciation

O'Shea: oh-SHAY

Place

Where the O'Sheas 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: 0.4 per 10,000 (6 people) Waterford: 41.2 per 10,000 (339 people) Dublin: 9.2 per 10,000 (441 people) Kilkenny: 72.9 per 10,000 (547 people) Carlow: 12.7 per 10,000 (46 people) Limerick: 45.4 per 10,000 (651 people) Louth: 1.6 per 10,000 (10 people) Tipperary: 42.7 per 10,000 (652 people) Roscommon: 4.6 per 10,000 (43 people) Meath: 0.8 per 10,000 (5 people) Wicklow: 12.5 per 10,000 (76 people) Cavan: 0.1 per 10,000 (1 people) Cork: 71.6 per 10,000 (2,813 people) Clare: 33.6 per 10,000 (351 people) Galway: 4.7 per 10,000 (86 people) Mayo: 2.7 per 10,000 (52 people) Sligo: 1.8 per 10,000 (14 people) Leitrim: 0 per 10,000 (0 people) Offaly: 19 per 10,000 (108 people) Laois: 18.6 per 10,000 (102 people) Kildare: 7.3 per 10,000 (49 people) Kerry: 299.5 per 10,000 (4,788 people) Monaghan: 0.6 per 10,000 (4 people) Wexford: 14.6 per 10,000 (150 people) Longford: 13.7 per 10,000 (60 people) Westmeath: 5.5 per 10,000 (33 people) Tyrone: 0.3 per 10,000 (4 people) Antrim: 0.8 per 10,000 (39 people) Armagh: 0.2 per 10,000 (2 people) Fermanagh: 4.1 per 10,000 (25 people) Londonderry: 0.1 per 10,000 (2 people) Down: 0.4 per 10,000 (12 people)
fewerup to 319 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

300 per 10,000

4,788 O'Sheas · 11.42× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Kerry 300
  2. Kilkenny 73
  3. Cork 72
  4. Limerick 45
  5. Tipperary 43
  6. Waterford 41
  7. Clare 34
  8. Offaly 19

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
Antrim5239—11—
Armagh22—00—
Carlow374643101313
Cavan412000
Clare349351353313437
Cork2,8662,8132,705727274
Donegal565000
Down2712—10—
Dublin3594415748912
Fermanagh1725—34—
Galway658658353
Kerry5,2894,7884,360319300293
Kildare5749629711
Kilkenny585547535787376
Laois9210291161918
Leitrim002000
Limerick626651687434549
Londonderry02—00—
Longford596065131416
Louth101017223
Mayo405245233
Meath16531215
Monaghan247011
Offaly99108115161922
Roscommon544341555
Sligo121417222
Tipperary670652610424344
Tyrone14—00—
Waterford327339305374139
Westmeath433323764
Wexford178150158171517
Wicklow5576539139

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where O'Sheas made up the largest share of the population. In Ardea, Co. Kerry, about one resident in 4 was a O'Shea.

DEDCountyO'SheasShare
ArdeaKerry182 23.7%
BanawnKerry157 22.5%
CanuigKerry120 19.0%
GlanmoreKerry150 19.0%
DerrianaKerry122 17.0%
MastergeehyKerry58 14.5%
LoughbrinKerry70 14.0%
DawrosKerry89 13.4%

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

Ó Séaghdha of Corca Dhuibhne (Uí Rathach)

Uí Rathach, now the barony of Iveragh · Kerry

The original family, part of the Corca Dhuibhne people of west Kerry. Woulfe says they were lords of Uí Rathach (Iveragh) until roughly the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion, and Wikipedia names O'Shea alongside O'Falvey and O'Connell as ruling families of Corcu Duibne. Woulfe found the name very common in Kerry in his own day.[1][2][6]

Shee or O'Shee of Kilkenny

Kilkenny city, later Sheestown and Courtstown, with Gardenmorris in Co. Waterford · Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary

Woulfe dates the move to Kilkenny to around the beginning of the 15th century, where the family grew rich and respected; Wikipedia says they went first to Tipperary in the 14th century. They became a leading merchant family of the city. Burke records branches seated at Sheestown and Courtstown in Kilkenny, Gardenmorris in Waterford and Cloran in Tipperary.[1][5][7][8]

Ó Séaghdha of Tirawley

barony of Tirawley · Mayo

Woulfe mentions a family of the name among the Uí Fiachrach of Tirawley in north Mayo, but adds that it was barely known in his time, if it survived at all.[1]

The name over time

History

A Kerry name

The O'Sheas belonged to Corca Dhuibhne, a people of west Kerry whose territory took in the Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas. Wikipedia describes them as part of the Érainn, claiming descent from the legendary Conaire Mór, and notes that more than a third of all known Irish ogham inscriptions come from their region. Within this kingdom the O'Sheas held Uí Rathach, the district now called Iveragh or Uíbh Ráthach, the largest peninsula in south-west Ireland. According to Woulfe, they kept that lordship until about the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion.[2][6][1]

Kings in the annals

The Annals of Inisfallen, as summarised by Wikipedia, record a run of kings of Corcu Duibne with the surname Ua Ségda in the 11th and 12th centuries. One was slain in 1041, and Mathgamain Ua Ségda died as king in 1096. The entries show a long rivalry with the Uí Fháilbi, the O'Falveys: Murchad Ua Ségda killed Lochlainn Ua Fáilbi in 1115, and three years later Tadc Ua Ségda was killed by the Norse of Limerick acting with Ua Fáilbi. Another Murchad Ua Ségda was slain in 1127.[2]

The Shees of Kilkenny

A branch left Kerry in the later Middle Ages. Wikipedia says they moved first to Tipperary in the 14th century and then to Kilkenny, while Woulfe places their arrival in Kilkenny city early in the 15th. There they became a powerful merchant family, and Robert O'Shee served as sovereign of the city. His grandson Sir Richard Shee (c. 1550–1608), a lawyer and Deputy Lord Treasurer of Ireland, founded an almshouse in 1582 for twelve poor people, first called the Hospital of Jesus. Richard's son Lucas obtained a royal charter for it in 1609.[5][1][7]

Dispossession, recovery and exile

The Kilkenny Shees lost their position during the Cromwellian period but recovered much of it in the 18th century. In 1756 Sir Nicholas Power O'Shee of Gardenmorris, Co. Waterford, regained the family almshouse, which still stands on Rose Inn Street and served as the city's tourist office from 1981. Some of the family went abroad: Burke records arms allowed in 1790 to Henry O'Shee, a knight of the order of St Louis and colonel of horse in France, and in 1793 to John O'Shee, then living in Brussels, both of the Kilkenny line.[7][8]

O'Shea, Shea and Shee

Woulfe lists O'Shea, O'Shee, Shea and Shee as English forms of the one Irish name. Shee was the usual spelling of the Kilkenny family and its offshoots. Burke also lists the painter Sir Martin Archer Shee, President of the Royal Academy and son of Martin Shee of Dublin, with the same arms as other Shee families. Shea and O'Shea are the forms that prevail in Kerry. Woulfe also noted a separate Ó Séaghdha family among the Uí Fiachrach of Tirawley in Co. Mayo, though he thought it had largely disappeared.[1][8][9]

Places linked to the name

  • Iveragh Peninsula (Uíbh Ráthach), Co. Kerry — Uí Rathach, the district the O'Sheas ruled until around the Anglo-Norman invasion.[1][6]
  • Dingle Peninsula (Corca Dhuibhne), Co. Kerry — Part of the old kingdom of Corcu Duibne, to which the O'Sheas belonged.[2]
  • Shee Alms House, Kilkenny, Co. Kilkenny — Tudor almshouse founded by Sir Richard Shee in 1582, now restored.[7]
  • Sheestown, Co. Kilkenny — Seat of the O'Shee family recorded by Burke; Wikipedia says Richard Shee's son Marcus was ancestor of the Shees of Sheestown.[8][5]
  • Gardenmorris, Co. Waterford — Seat of the O'Shees of Gardenmorris, whose Sir Nicholas Power O'Shee regained the Kilkenny almshouse in 1756.[8][7]
  • Tirawley, Co. Mayo — Barony where Woulfe records a separate Ó Séaghdha family of the Uí Fiachrach.[1]

Everyday lives

The O'Sheas in the census

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

O'Sheas All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the O'Shea bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +25.7 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 99.3%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −12.6 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 0.6%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian −10.1 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 0.0%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −3.0 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 0.1%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 +27.9 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 43.2%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 +24.6 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 38.1%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties +12.9 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 26.4%
All of Ireland 13.5%

262 O'Sheas spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ −4.1 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 76.3%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ −3.1 points vs Ireland
O'Sheas 82.7%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 2,236 households higher than Ireland
O'Sheas 5.02
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 higher than Ireland
O'Sheas 7.42
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living about the same as Ireland
O'Sheas 79.4%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer2,292
Farmer's son1,147
Farmer's daughter570
Farm servant421
Agricultural labourer369
Labourer340
General labourer320
House keeper270
Farmer's wife247
Farm labourer243

Born outside Ireland

0.8% of O'Sheas in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England44
United States31
Scotland6
Wales5
India3
Australia & NZ1

Median age: 22 in 1901, 24 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the O'Sheas

Men and boys

  1. John2,851
  2. Patrick2,105
  3. Michael1,794
  4. James1,362
  5. Daniel875
  6. Thomas840
  7. Timothy725
  8. Denis711
  9. Jeremiah521
  10. William509

Women and girls

  1. Mary3,451
  2. Bridget1,249
  3. Margaret1,156
  4. Ellen965
  5. Kate664
  6. Catherine663
  7. Julia653
  8. Johanna565
  9. Hannah490
  10. Nora435

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

Spellings

Spellings

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

Spelling190119111926Records
Shea8,3757,0214,252Search
O'Shea3,6234,4906,712Search

Related forms

  • Shea — The form without the Ó prefix, given by Woulfe.[1]
  • Shee, O'Shee — The spellings used by the Kilkenny branch and its offshoots in Waterford, Tipperary and abroad.[1][7][8]
  • Ó Sé — The current Irish-language spelling.[3][4]

Diaspora

The O'Sheas abroad

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

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Shea33,3291048th
O'Shea10,5313395th

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

Heraldry

Is there a O'Shea coat of arms?

There is no single O'Shea crest; arms belonged to particular families. Burke records arms for O'Shee of Sheestown, Co. Kilkenny, and Gardenmorris, Co. Waterford: a shield of several quarters, the first divided by an indented diagonal line in blue and gold with two fleurs-de-lis in reversed colours, a black swan as crest, and the motto 'Vincit veritas' ('truth conquers'). He states that these arms were granted to Odoneus O'Shee in 1381 and confirmed to Sir Richard Shee in 1582. Burke gives quite different arms under the plain name Shea, with no family or place attached.[8]

Websites selling a single “O'Shea 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 O'Shea

  • Sir Richard Shee (c. 1550–1608)
    Kilkenny lawyer and Deputy Lord Treasurer of Ireland who founded the Shee almshouse in 1582.
  • Sir Martin Archer Shee (1769–1850)
    Dublin-born portrait painter and writer, President of the Royal Academy from 1830 to 1850.
  • John Augustus O'Shea (1839–1905)
    Irish soldier, journalist and writer.
  • William O'Shea (1840–1905)
    Irish soldier and MP, husband of Katharine O'Shea.
  • Katharine O'Shea (1846–1921)
    English-born partner and later wife of the Irish leader Charles Stewart Parnell.
  • Alicia O'Shea Petersen (1862–1923)
    Australian suffragist and campaigner.
  • Tessie O'Shea (1913–1995)
    Welsh entertainer and actress.
  • Milo O'Shea (1926–2013)
    Irish actor of stage, film and television.
  • John O'Shea (born 1944)
    Founder of the Irish humanitarian organisation GOAL.
  • Páidí Ó Sé (1955–2012)
    Kerry footballer with eight All-Ireland medals who later managed Kerry to two titles.
  • Jack O'Shea (born 1957)
    All-Ireland-winning Gaelic footballer from Co. Kerry.
  • John O'Shea (born 1981)
    Irish international footballer who won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.

Questions

Questions about the O'Shea name

Is O'Shea an Irish surname?

Yes. O'Shea is the anglicised form of the Gaelic Ó Séaghdha. The family belonged to Corca Dhuibhne in west Kerry and ruled the Iveragh district until about the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. A branch later settled in Kilkenny, where it became a leading merchant family under the spelling Shee.[1][2][5]

What is O'Shea in Irish?

The traditional spelling is Ó Séaghdha, meaning 'descendant of Séaghdha'. In modern Irish the name is written Ó Sé, the form used by the Kerry footballer Páidí Ó Sé and others. The medieval Annals of Inisfallen record kings of Corcu Duibne under the earlier spelling Ua Ségda.[1][3][4][2]

What does O'Shea mean?

It means a descendant of a man called Séaghdha. Woulfe explains the personal name as stately, majestic or courteous, and also gives the senses learned or skilled, so the original meaning is not certain. As with most Gaelic surnames, the meaning belongs to the ancestor's first name rather than to the family itself.[1]

Are Shea, Shee and O'Shea the same name?

Yes, in most cases. Woulfe lists O'Shea, O'Shee, Shea and Shee as English forms of Ó Séaghdha. Shee was the usual spelling of the Kilkenny branch and its offshoots in Waterford, Tipperary and on the Continent, while O'Shea and Shea are the common forms in Kerry.[1][8][7]

Where does the O'Shea name come from?

From Co. Kerry. The O'Sheas were one of the ruling families of Corcu Duibne, a kingdom covering the Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas, and held Iveragh itself in the early Middle Ages. Woulfe found the name very numerous in Kerry in the 1920s. Kilkenny became a second centre after a branch settled there.[2][1]

Is there an O'Shea family crest or coat of arms?

Not one for everybody named O'Shea. Burke records arms for the O'Shees of Sheestown, Co. Kilkenny, and Gardenmorris, Co. Waterford, with a black swan crest and the motto 'Vincit veritas', said to have been granted in 1381 and confirmed in 1582. Those arms belonged to that family and its descendants, not to the name as a whole.[8]

Where in Ireland is the O'Shea surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of O'Sheas lived in Kerry (4,788), Cork (2,813), Tipperary (652). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Kerry (300 per 10,000), Kilkenny (73 per 10,000), Cork (72 per 10,000).

How common was the O'Shea surname in Ireland?

11,511 people were recorded as Shea or O'Shea in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 48th most common surname. That is roughly 0.3% of the population, or 1 person in 382.

Looking for a O'Shea ancestor?

Search every O'Shea 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 Séaghdha, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Wikipedia, Corcu Duibne (2026)
  3. Wikipedia, O'Shea (2026)
  4. Wikipedia, Ó Sé (2026)
  5. Wikipedia, Richard Shee (2026)
  6. Wikipedia, Iveragh Peninsula (2026)
  7. Wikipedia, Shee Alms House (2026)
  8. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries 'O'Shee' (Sheestown, Paris, Brussels, Courtstown), 'Shee' and 'Shea'.
  9. Wikipedia, Martin Archer Shee (2026)
  10. 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.
  11. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.