surnames.ie

Irish surname · 100th most common in 1911

Reid

Reid is mainly a Scottish surname from an old word for 'red', describing red hair or a ruddy face, and it reached Ulster largely with Scottish settlers in the 17th century. In Ireland it also stands for a Norman name, Réid, and for Gaelic names such as Ó Maoildeirg. Reidy is a different name.

Irish RéidIrish Ó MaoildeirgIrish Ó MaoilbhríghdeIrish Giolcach
1901 census
6,882
#102 · 16 per 10,000
1911 census
7,168
#100 · 16 per 10,000
1926 census
2,371
#250 · 8 per 10,000
Most numerous
Antrim
Highest share: Antrim

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Scottish Mainly Scottish, brought to Ulster by settlers, with smaller Norman and Gaelic Irish strands that share the meaning 'red'.[1][2][3][4]

Réid
“the red (Norman le Rede)”[3][5]
Woulfe's Irish form of the Norman surname, which he says reached Ireland around the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion.
Ó Maoildeirg
“descendant of Maoldearg (the red chief)”[4][5][6]
A Donegal name, usually Mulderrig in English, sometimes rendered Reid by translation.
Ó Maoilbhríghde
“descendant of Maolbhríghde (servant of St Brigid)”[7][5]
A Roscommon name more often anglicised Mulready or Mulbride; Woulfe and Wiktionary list Reid among its English forms.
Giolcach
“a mistranslation”[8][3]
Woulfe warns that this Irish rendering of Reade or Reid is a mistranslation of a name that simply means 'the red'.

The name is built on the personal name rēad (Old English), usually explained as “red”. Reid is not from a personal name but from a byname for someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion. Wiktionary traces the Scottish surname to Old English rēad, and Woulfe gives the Norman form as le Rede, 'the red'.[5][1][3]

Pronunciation

Reid: REED

Place

Where the Reids 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: 9.4 per 10,000 (158 people) Waterford: 0.4 per 10,000 (3 people) Dublin: 20 per 10,000 (962 people) Kilkenny: 15.2 per 10,000 (114 people) Carlow: 5 per 10,000 (18 people) Limerick: 4 per 10,000 (57 people) Louth: 9.7 per 10,000 (61 people) Tipperary: 3.5 per 10,000 (53 people) Roscommon: 9.3 per 10,000 (87 people) Meath: 11.7 per 10,000 (76 people) Wicklow: 12.3 per 10,000 (75 people) Cavan: 3.8 per 10,000 (35 people) Cork: 2.4 per 10,000 (95 people) Clare: 2.7 per 10,000 (28 people) Galway: 1.7 per 10,000 (31 people) Mayo: 4.1 per 10,000 (78 people) Sligo: 8.8 per 10,000 (70 people) Leitrim: 1.9 per 10,000 (12 people) Offaly: 14.2 per 10,000 (81 people) Laois: 3.8 per 10,000 (21 people) Kildare: 8.2 per 10,000 (55 people) Kerry: 1.5 per 10,000 (24 people) Monaghan: 8.9 per 10,000 (64 people) Wexford: 8.6 per 10,000 (88 people) Longford: 2.1 per 10,000 (9 people) Westmeath: 12.5 per 10,000 (75 people) Tyrone: 38.1 per 10,000 (544 people) Antrim: 43.4 per 10,000 (2,071 people) Armagh: 25.4 per 10,000 (304 people) Fermanagh: 19.9 per 10,000 (121 people) Londonderry: 28.3 per 10,000 (396 people) Down: 42.6 per 10,000 (1,302 people)
fewerup to 45 per 10,000

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

Highest concentration · 1911

Antrim

43 per 10,000

2,071 Reids · 2.66× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Antrim 43
  2. Down 43
  3. Tyrone 38
  4. Londonderry 28
  5. Armagh 25
  6. Dublin 20
  7. Fermanagh 20
  8. Kilkenny 15

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
Antrim2,0562,071—4543—
Armagh332304—2725—
Carlow91824257
Cavan303533344
Clare192820232
Cork919578222
Donegal150158123998
Down1,1091,302—3843—
Dublin8299621,031192021
Fermanagh141121—2220—
Galway273132122
Kerry212415121
Kildare5955541089
Kilkenny661147491511
Laois272119544
Leitrim71212122
Limerick295739243
Londonderry412396—2828—
Longford17917424
Louth656162101010
Mayo737855443
Meath987698141216
Monaghan7164571099
Offaly698184111416
Roscommon7987808910
Sligo81708010911
Tipperary615343443
Tyrone583544—3938—
Waterford934101
Westmeath867589141316
Wexford948877998
Wicklow827571141212

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Reids made up the largest share of the population. In Brantry, Co. Tyrone, about one resident in 11 was a Reid.

DEDCountyReidsShare
BrantryTyrone72 9.0%
GrousehallDonegal21 4.4%
BarnaOffaly11 3.6%
DouglasburnTyrone27 3.5%
ListymoreTyrone20 3.4%
BenburbTyrone50 3.4%
CarrowdoreDown53 3.2%
QuerrinClare17 3.2%

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

Ó Maoildeirg of Donegal

Co. Donegal, later also Mayo · Donegal, Mayo

An old Donegal family, called Mulderrig in English and sometimes translated as Reid. Woulfe thought the name might be a corruption of an older surname, Ó Maoilghiric. Families that moved into Mayo took the unexpected English forms Reddington and Ruthledge. A 1923 study of anglicised names calls the north-west Ulster family 'the red-haired Reids'.[4][6]

Ó Maoilbhríghde of Magh Finn

Magh Finn or Bredach, in the barony of Athlone · Roscommon

A family of the Uí Maine who were chiefs of Magh Finn, also called Bredach, a district dedicated to St Brigid, their patron. Woulfe says the MacKeoghs dispossessed them many centuries ago and they scattered into neighbouring parts of Connacht and Leinster. Their usual English forms are Mulready and Mulbride, with Reid an occasional substitute.[7][5]

The name over time

History

A name for a red-haired man

Reid began as a nickname. Wiktionary describes it as a Scottish surname from the Old English word rēad, 'red', given to someone with red hair or a ruddy face, and Wikipedia's surname article gives the same meaning. Wiktionary lists Read and Reed as alternative Scottish spellings, and Wikipedia treats Reed as a variant of Reid. Like other nicknames, it could be given to people with no family connection, so two Reids need not share an ancestor.[5][1][9]

Scottish Reids in Ulster

Many Irish Reids, particularly in Ulster, descend from Scots who crossed the North Channel. Wikipedia lists Reid among the surnames of the Scottish settlers who came between 1606 and 1641, during and around the Plantation of Ulster. Burke's General Armory records two later examples: a Newry family descended from William Reid, who came from Scotland, settled in the north of Ireland and died in 1758, and a Dublin family descended from Andrew Reid of Dumfriesshire. Matheson's report on births registered in 1890 found the name chiefly in Antrim, Dublin, Down, Tyrone and Armagh.[2][10][11]

The Norman Réid

A smaller strand of the name is older in Ireland than the plantations. Woulfe records Réid as the Irish form of a Norman surname, le Rede, which also meant 'the red' and came into the country around the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. Its English spellings include Read, Reade and Reede as well as Reid. Woulfe adds a warning that Irish writers sometimes rendered the name as Giolcach, which he regarded as a mistranslation, since the original only described a person's colouring.[3][8]

Gaelic names that became Reid

In a few places Reid replaced a native Irish surname. In Donegal, Ó Maoildeirg, 'descendant of the red chief', was usually written Mulderrig, but because its meaning contained the word for red it was sometimes translated as Reid. In Roscommon, the Ó Maoilbhríghde family of Magh Finn, whose name means 'descendant of the servant of St Brigid', mostly became Mulready or Mulbride, but Reid was also adopted. A family's own records are the only reliable way to tell these Irish Reids from those of Scottish descent.[4][7][5][6]

Places linked to the name

  • Magh Finn (Bredach), Co. Roscommon — District in the barony of Athlone ruled by the Ó Maoilbhríghde family, some of whom later used the name Reid.[7]
  • Newry, Co. Down — Home of a Reid family of Scottish descent whose arms Burke records as granted in 1840.[10]

Everyday lives

The Reids in the census

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

Reids All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Reid bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic −41.3 points vs Ireland
Reids 32.3%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland +12.6 points vs Ireland
Reids 25.8%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian +23.6 points vs Ireland
Reids 33.7%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other +5.1 points vs Ireland
Reids 8.2%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −11.9 points vs Ireland
Reids 3.4%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 −9.6 points vs Ireland
Reids 3.9%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties −7.7 points vs Ireland
Reids 5.8%
All of Ireland 13.5%

75 Reids spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ +5.7 points vs Ireland
Reids 86.1%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ +3.2 points vs Ireland
Reids 89.0%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 1,582 households lower than Ireland
Reids 4.6
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 lower than Ireland
Reids 5.93
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living −2.1 points vs Ireland
Reids 77.7%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer961
Farmer's son418
General labourer261
Farmer's daughter202
Agricultural labourer175
Labourer166
House keeper151
Farm servant135
Seamstress122
Farm labourer104

Born outside Ireland

5.1% of Reids in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England178
Scotland159
United States11
India7
Canada4
Australia & NZ1

Median age: 24 in 1901, 25 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Reids

Men and boys

  1. John917
  2. James819
  3. William656
  4. Thomas513
  5. Robert424
  6. Joseph323
  7. Patrick311
  8. Samuel182
  9. George172
  10. Michael161

Women and girls

  1. Mary862
  2. Margaret414
  3. Elizabeth377
  4. Annie353
  5. Jane287
  6. Sarah282
  7. Maggie219
  8. Ellen216
  9. Lizzie211
  10. Bridget199

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

Spellings

Spellings

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

Spelling190119111926Records
Reid6,8827,1682,371Search

Related forms

  • Read, Reade, Reede — Spellings Woulfe gives for the Norman Réid; Read and Reade are also common English forms.[3][1]
  • Reed — Treated by Wikipedia as a variant of the same 'red' name; one Northumberland Reed family instead took its name from Redesdale.[9]
  • Mulderrig — The usual English form of Ó Maoildeirg, a Donegal name sometimes translated as Reid.[4][6]
  • Mulready, Mulbride — The usual English forms of Ó Maoilbhríghde, of which Reid is an occasional substitute.[7]
  • Reidy — A different name: Ó Riada, 'descendant of Riada', a Dalcassian family of Clare and Kerry.[12]

Diaspora

The Reids abroad

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

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Reid111,360275th

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

Heraldry

Is there a Reid coat of arms?

There is no Reid crest for everyone of the name; arms belonged to particular families. Burke's General Armory records many Scottish Reid arms and a few Irish ones. A grant of 1840 to James Reid, of a Newry family descended from a Scottish settler who died in 1758, shows a black two-headed eagle with two thistles above and the motto 'Spectemur agendo'. Arms allowed in 1830 to a Dublin family of Dumfriesshire descent carry the motto 'Firm'.[10]

Websites selling a single “Reid 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 Reid

  • Thomas Reid (1710–1796)
    Aberdeenshire philosopher who founded the Scottish School of Common Sense.
  • James Seaton Reid (1798–1851)
    Lurgan-born Presbyterian minister and historian of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
  • Mayne Reid (1818–1883)
    Co. Down-born adventure novelist and Mexican–American War veteran, widely read for his tales of the American West.
  • George Reid (1845–1918)
    Scottish-born Premier of New South Wales and fourth Prime Minister of Australia.
  • Forrest Reid (1875–1947)
    Belfast novelist and critic who won the James Tait Black Prize for Young Tom in 1944.
  • Nano Reid (1900–1981)
    Drogheda painter of landscapes, figures and portraits who exhibited from the 1920s to 1968.
  • Alec Reid (1931–2013)
    Dublin-born Redemptorist priest who helped open contacts in the Northern Ireland peace process.
  • Graham Reid (born 1945)
    Belfast playwright whose BBC 'Billy' plays of the 1980s starred a young Kenneth Branagh.
  • Andy Reid (born 1982)
    Dublin-born midfielder for Nottingham Forest, Tottenham and Sunderland, and a Republic of Ireland international.

Questions

Questions about the Reid name

Is Reid an Irish or a Scottish surname?

Mainly Scottish. Reid is a Scottish surname meaning 'red', and many Irish Reids descend from Scots who settled in Ulster from the early 17th century. A smaller number may come from the Norman name Réid, or from Gaelic names such as Ó Maoildeirg in Donegal, which was sometimes translated as Reid.[5][2][3][4]

What does the name Reid mean?

It means 'red'. The name started as a nickname for someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from the Old English word rēad. The Norman le Rede and the Gaelic Ó Maoildeirg, 'descendant of the red chief', carry a similar sense, which is why they were sometimes written Reid in English.[5][1][3][4]

What is Reid in Irish?

Woulfe gives Réid as the Irish form of the Norman surname, and that is the usual equivalent. Where Reid replaced a Gaelic name, the Irish original might be Ó Maoildeirg or, more rarely, Ó Maoilbhríghde. Woulfe warns against Giolcach, an Irish rendering he considered a mistranslation.[3][4][7][8]

Are Reid and Reidy the same name?

No. Reid means 'red' and is mainly Scottish. Reidy is Gaelic Irish, from Ó Riada, 'descendant of Riada', a name Woulfe glosses as 'tamed' or 'trained'. The Reidys were a Dalcassian family, and Woulfe found them numerous in Clare and Kerry. The spellings look alike but the families are unrelated.[12][5]

How do you pronounce Reid?

Reid is said 'reed', rhyming with 'need', with a single long vowel. Wiktionary gives the pronunciation as /ɹiːd/, so in speech it is identical to the surname Reed. It should not be confused with Reidy, which has two syllables and is a different name.[5][12]

Is there a Reid family crest or coat of arms?

Not one for every Reid. Burke's General Armory lists arms for many separate Reid families, most of them Scottish. Irish examples include a Newry family descended from an 18th-century Scottish settler, with the motto 'Spectemur agendo', and a Dublin family of Dumfriesshire origin, with the motto 'Firm'. Each belonged only to that family line.[10]

Where in Ireland is the Reid surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Reids lived in Antrim (2,071), Down (1,302), Dublin (962). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Antrim (43 per 10,000), Down (43 per 10,000), Tyrone (38 per 10,000).

How common was the Reid surname in Ireland?

7,168 people were recorded as Reid in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 100th most common surname. That is roughly 0.2% of the population, or 1 person in 613.

Looking for a Reid ancestor?

Search every Reid household in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, with free images of the original forms.

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, Reid (surname) (2026)
  2. Wikipedia, Scottish names in Ulster (2026)
  3. Patrick Woulfe, Réid, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  4. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Maoildeirg, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  5. Wiktionary, Reid
  6. Padraig Mac Giolla-Domhnaigh, Some Anglicised Surnames in Ireland: Reid (1923)
  7. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Maoilbhríghde, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  8. Patrick Woulfe, Giolcach, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  9. Wikipedia, Reed (name) (2026)
  10. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries under 'Reid', including those granted 1840 (Newry) and allowed 1830 (Dublin).
  11. Robert E. Matheson, Special Report on Surnames in Ireland: Reid (1909). Based on births registered in 1890.
  12. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Riada, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  13. 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.
  14. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.