surnames.ie

Irish surname · 6th most common in 1911

Smith

Also spelt Smyth, Smythe

Smith is an English occupational surname for a metalworker, and some Irish Smiths descend from English settlers. Many others are Gaelic Irish families who translated their names into English: Mac an Ghabhann or Mac Gabhann ('son of the smith', also MacGowan) and Ó Gobhann of Cavan.

Irish Mac an Ghabhann, Mac an Ghobhann · Mac GabhannIrish Ó GobhannIrish Mac an Ghobha, Ó GobhaIrish Gobha
1901 census
32,156
#6 · 73 per 10,000
1911 census
31,994
#6 · 73 per 10,000
1926 census
19,237
#11 · 65 per 10,000
Most numerous
Cavan
Highest share: Cavan

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

English & Gaelic (merged) Partly English occupational, partly Gaelic Irish. The Irish names Mac an Ghabhann and Ó Gobhann were translated into English as Smith.[1][2][3]

Mac an Ghabhann, Mac an Ghobhann
Modern spelling: Mac Gabhann
“son of the smith”[2][4][5]
Woulfe calls this a very common Irish surname. In the south it was generally translated as Smith, while MacGowan and Magowan were usual in the north.
Ó Gobhann
“descendant of the smith”[3]
An old Cavan family whose name was nearly always 'disguised' as Smith or Smyth.
Mac an Ghobha, Ó Gobha
“son or descendant of the smith”[6][7]
Variants of the two names above, giving Gow, MacGowe and Smith.
Gobha
“the smith”[8]
A trade name that, in some families, took the place of the real surname.

The name is built on the personal name gobha (not a personal name), usually explained as “smith”. Smith and its Irish equivalents come from a trade, not from an ancestor's name. The English word goes back to Old English smið, 'metalworker'. The Irish gobha, genitive gobhann, comes from Old Irish gobae.[1][9][2]

Pronunciation

Smith: SMITH (Smyth is usually said the same way; Smythe can also rhyme with 'scythe')

Place

Where the Smiths 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: 27.6 per 10,000 (465 people) Waterford: 32.2 per 10,000 (265 people) Dublin: 91.7 per 10,000 (4,406 people) Kilkenny: 19.8 per 10,000 (149 people) Carlow: 58.6 per 10,000 (213 people) Limerick: 18.5 per 10,000 (265 people) Louth: 99.2 per 10,000 (625 people) Tipperary: 27.3 per 10,000 (416 people) Roscommon: 22.5 per 10,000 (211 people) Meath: 292.9 per 10,000 (1,910 people) Wicklow: 61.8 per 10,000 (376 people) Cavan: 547.5 per 10,000 (5,001 people) Cork: 20.8 per 10,000 (818 people) Clare: 9.1 per 10,000 (95 people) Galway: 31.1 per 10,000 (567 people) Mayo: 18 per 10,000 (346 people) Sligo: 26 per 10,000 (206 people) Leitrim: 48.1 per 10,000 (303 people) Offaly: 50.4 per 10,000 (287 people) Laois: 34.9 per 10,000 (191 people) Kildare: 75.7 per 10,000 (506 people) Kerry: 8.4 per 10,000 (135 people) Monaghan: 135.8 per 10,000 (971 people) Wexford: 24.9 per 10,000 (255 people) Longford: 103.1 per 10,000 (452 people) Westmeath: 101.2 per 10,000 (609 people) Tyrone: 61.5 per 10,000 (878 people) Antrim: 104.2 per 10,000 (4,977 people) Armagh: 67.6 per 10,000 (809 people) Fermanagh: 69.8 per 10,000 (424 people) Londonderry: 95.4 per 10,000 (1,334 people) Down: 115.3 per 10,000 (3,529 people)
fewerup to 555 per 10,000

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

Highest concentration · 1911

Cavan

548 per 10,000

5,001 Smiths · 7.51× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Cavan 548
  2. Meath 293
  3. Monaghan 136
  4. Down 115
  5. Antrim 104
  6. Longford 103
  7. Westmeath 101
  8. Louth 99

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
Antrim4,7474,977—104104—
Armagh810809—6568—
Carlow184213148495943
Cavan5,1905,0014,571533548555
Clare1179511410912
Cork888818789222122
Donegal439465413252827
Down3,3033,529—114115—
Dublin4,2754,4064,678979293
Fermanagh401424—6270—
Galway586567513303130
Kerry161135781085
Kildare464506403767670
Kilkenny152149132202019
Laois226191175403534
Leitrim327303277474849
Limerick268265240181917
Londonderry1,4101,334—9795—
Longford523452431112103108
Louth6416257029999112
Mayo360346317181818
Meath1,9671,9101,845280293295
Monaghan1,058971975142136150
Offaly299287283505054
Roscommon205211225202327
Sligo208206195262627
Tipperary410416356262725
Tyrone882878—5962—
Waterford281265252323232
Westmeath671609563108101100
Wexford260255203252521
Wicklow443376359746263

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Smiths made up the largest share of the population. In Waterloo, Co. Cavan, about one resident in 5 was a Smith.

DEDCountySmithsShare
WaterlooCavan301 20.5%
CuttraghCavan103 19.0%
CrosskeysCavan181 17.3%
KillCavan134 16.2%
StradoneCavan178 14.8%
Laradh NorthCavan159 14.3%
BallyjamesduffCavan223 13.2%
NewcastleMeath83 11.4%

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

Ó Gobhann of Breifne O'Reilly

O'Reilly's country (East Breifne), County Cavan · Cavan, Monaghan, Down, Louth, Meath, Westmeath

Woulfe describes Ó Gobhann as an old Cavan family who, in the late 16th century, were among the most numerous in O'Reilly's country. They were also found across the neighbouring counties. Woulfe adds that in all of them the name survived but was nearly always rendered Smith or Smyth.[3]

Clann an Ghabhann of Clare

The Burren, County Clare · Clare

A branch of the Mac an Ghabhann who were hereditary historians to the O'Loughlins of the Burren.[2]

Clann an Ghabhann of Ormond

Ormond, County Tipperary · Tipperary

Hereditary historians to the O'Kennedys of Ormond, according to Woulfe.[2]

Mac Gabhann of Uí Echach Cobo

West County Down · Down

Wikipedia places the Irish MacGowans among the Uí Echach Cobo of west Down, of the same stock as the McGuinnesses. It notes that some MacGowan families were anglicised as Smith or Smythe.[10]

The name over time

History

Two roots for one name

Smith in Ireland has two quite different origins. The English surname is occupational: a smith worked metal, and the word goes back to Old English smið. Some English Smiths settled in Ireland. At the same time, Gaelic families whose names meant 'son of the smith' or 'descendant of the smith' often swapped those names for the English equivalent. The result is that an Irish Smith may have Gaelic Irish ancestry or English ancestry, and the surname alone cannot settle which.[1][11][12][2][3]

The English occupational name

Smith is one of the oldest English occupational surnames. Wikipedia cites an Ecceard Smith of County Durham recorded in 975. English Smiths took part in the colonial schemes in Ireland. In 1571 Sir Thomas Smith received a grant of the Ards and North Down to plant with English settlers, though the colony failed. The London merchant Erasmus Smith gained Irish land through his father's subscription under the Adventurers' Act. He later used part of it to fund schools.[1][11][12]

Mac an Ghabhann: 'son of the smith'

Woulfe calls Mac an Ghabhann (genitive gobhann, from gobha, 'smith') a very common Irish surname. In the north it usually became MacGowan or Magowan, while in the south it was generally translated as Smith. Some branches became learned families. The Clann an Ghabhann of Clare were hereditary historians to the O'Loughlins of the Burren, and those of Tipperary served the O'Kennedys of Ormond. Mac Gabhann is Woulfe's shorter variant of the same name.[2][4]

Ó Gobhann of Cavan

A separate family, Ó Gobhann ('descendant of the smith'), belonged to Cavan. Woulfe says that in the late 16th century it was one of the most numerous families in O'Reilly's country, and that it was also found in Monaghan, Down, Louth, Meath and Westmeath. By his time the name was still very common in all those counties but almost always appeared as Smith or Smyth. Woulfe stresses that it must be kept distinct from Mac an Ghabhann, which was often translated the same way.[3]

How the translations happened

Woulfe explains that during the 18th and 19th centuries many Irish families dropped the phonetic forms of their names and took an English word believed to translate them. He considered most of these translations inaccurate, but gobha really does mean 'smith', so Smith is a fair one. A study of Monaghan surnames by Willie O'Kane, quoted on Wikipedia, records MacGowans adopting Smith. The politician Patrick James Smyth gave his own Irish name as O'Gowan or Mac Gabhainn.[13][1][14]

Smyth and Smythe

Smyth is not simply a later affectation. Wikipedia quotes the surname scholar Charles Bardsley, who wrote in 1901 that y was the almost invariable spelling of the name in early rolls. Another suggestion is that y was easier to read than i in blackletter type. The final e of Smythe may come from 'smithy' or from a Middle English form for someone living by the smithy. In Ireland, Smyth is also used by families of Gaelic Ó Gobhann and Mac an Ghabhann descent. Woulfe lists it alongside Smith, so the spelling does not by itself point to English ancestry.[1][3][2]

Places linked to the name

  • O'Reilly's country (East Breifne), Co. Cavan — Homeland of Ó Gobhann, among the most numerous families there in the late 16th century.[3]
  • The Burren (Boireann), Co. Clare — Clann an Ghabhann were hereditary historians to the O'Loughlins of the Burren.[2]
  • Ormond, Co. Tipperary — Clann an Ghabhann served as historians to the O'Kennedys of Ormond.[2]
  • The Ards and North Down, Co. Down — Granted to Sir Thomas Smith in 1571 for an English plantation that failed.[11]

Everyday lives

The Smiths in the census

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

Smiths All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Smith bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic −11.8 points vs Ireland
Smiths 61.8%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland +5.5 points vs Ireland
Smiths 18.7%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian +5.4 points vs Ireland
Smiths 15.5%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other +0.9 points vs Ireland
Smiths 4.0%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −10.1 points vs Ireland
Smiths 5.2%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 −9.1 points vs Ireland
Smiths 4.4%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties −5.6 points vs Ireland
Smiths 7.9%
All of Ireland 13.5%

200 Smiths spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ +3.5 points vs Ireland
Smiths 83.9%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ +2.3 points vs Ireland
Smiths 88.1%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 6,960 households lower than Ireland
Smiths 4.59
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 lower than Ireland
Smiths 6.29
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living +0.5 points vs Ireland
Smiths 80.3%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer5,325
Farmer's son2,235
Farmer's daughter1,231
General labourer1,030
Agricultural labourer945
Labourer836
Farm servant753
House keeper710
Farm labourer530
Domestic servant512

Born outside Ireland

6.0% of Smiths in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England1,272
Scotland443
United States74
India42
Wales27
Australia & NZ19

Median age: 24 in 1901, 26 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Smiths

Men and boys

  1. John4,932
  2. James4,047
  3. Patrick3,388
  4. Thomas2,794
  5. William2,373
  6. Michael1,815
  7. Joseph1,157
  8. Robert1,027
  9. Peter938
  10. Edward815

Women and girls

  1. Mary5,114
  2. Bridget2,144
  3. Margaret2,038
  4. Annie1,721
  5. Elizabeth1,393
  6. Ellen1,354
  7. Catherine1,229
  8. Maggie1,088
  9. Kate1,008
  10. Anne1,003

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

Spellings

Spellings

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

Spelling190119111926Records
Smyth16,82716,4629,169Search
Smith15,14315,3519,976Search
Smythe18618192Search

Related forms

  • Smyth — A very early spelling of Smith, found in medieval rolls. In Ireland it is also used for translated Ó Gobhann and Mac an Ghabhann families.[1][15][3][2]
  • Smythe — A form with a final e, possibly from 'smithy'. Pronounced either 'smith' or to rhyme with 'scythe'.[1][16]
  • MacGowan, McGowan, Magowan — The phonetic anglicisation of Mac an Ghabhann or Mac Gabhann, the usual form in the north.[2][10]
  • Gowan, Gowen, Goan, Gowing — Anglicised forms of both Mac an Ghabhann and Ó Gobhann.[2][3]
  • Gow, MacGowe — From Gobha and Mac an Ghobha.[8][6]

Diaspora

The Smiths abroad

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

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Smyth9,4703741st
Smith2,442,9771st
Smythe4,3797591st

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

Heraldry

Is there a Smith coat of arms?

There is no Smith family crest. A surname this widespread, with unrelated English and Gaelic origins, cannot have one. Arms were granted to particular people and passed to their own descendants. None of the sources used here describes arms for the Gaelic Mac an Ghabhann or Ó Gobhann.[2][3]

Websites selling a single “Smith 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 Smith

  • Sir Thomas Smith (1513–1577)
    English scholar and diplomat granted the Ards and North Down in 1571 for a failed colony.
  • Erasmus Smith (1611–1691)
    English merchant and Irish landowner whose trust funded schools from his Irish estates.
  • Charles Smith (1715–1762)
    Dungarvan apothecary and topographer who wrote county histories of Down, Waterford, Cork and Kerry.
  • James Smith (c. 1719–1806)
    Irish-born Pennsylvania lawyer who signed the United States Declaration of Independence.
  • Edward Smyth (1749–1812)
    Meath-born sculptor known as the 'Phidias of Ireland'.
  • Patrick James Smyth (c. 1823–1885)
    Young Irelander, journalist and Home Rule MP, nicknamed 'Nicaragua Smyth'.
  • Patrick Smith (1901–1982)
    Cavan-born Fianna Fáil TD for 53 years, the longest Dáil tenure in the state.
  • Michael Smith (1942–2014)
    Poet and translator, co-founder of New Writers Press and member of Aosdána.
  • Ailbhe Smyth (born 1946)
    Academic, feminist and LGBTQ activist; founding director of WERRC at UCD.
  • Tommy Smyth (born 1946)
    Irish soccer commentator with ESPN in the United States since 1993.
  • Michelle Smith de Bruin (born 1969)
    Swimmer who won three Olympic gold medals at Atlanta in 1996.

Questions

Questions about the Smith name

Is Smith an Irish surname?

It can be either Irish or English. Smith began as an English occupational name, and some Irish Smiths descend from English settlers. Many Irish Smiths, however, descend from Gaelic families such as Mac an Ghabhann ('son of the smith') and Ó Gobhann of Cavan, who translated their names into English. Woulfe says Ó Gobhann was still very common in Cavan and the surrounding counties, nearly always as Smith or Smyth.[1][2][3]

What is Smith in Irish?

The usual Irish equivalent is Mac Gabhann, or in Woulfe's fuller form Mac an Ghabhann, 'son of the smith'. The Cavan family name Ó Gobhann, 'descendant of the smith', is another. The word for a smith is gobha, with the genitive gobhann. Mac Gabhann is the same name that gives MacGowan.[2][3][5][9]

Is Smith Irish or English?

Both, and often you cannot tell from the name alone. The surname itself is English in origin. In Ireland it absorbed at least two Gaelic families whose names meant 'smith'. A family that lived in Cavan, Monaghan or the north midlands may well have been Ó Gobhann, which Woulfe found almost always written Smith there. Family records, not the spelling, are the best guide.[1][3][2]

Are Smith and MacGowan the same name?

In Ireland they often are. Both MacGowan and Smith render Mac an Ghabhann, 'son of the smith'. MacGowan represents the sound of the Irish name and Smith translates its meaning. Woulfe says that in his day the south of Ireland generally used Smith, while MacGowan and Magowan were common in the north.[2][10]

What is the difference between Smith, Smyth and Smythe?

They are spellings of the same name. Smyth is an early form found in medieval English rolls, and was not a later affectation. Smythe adds a final e, perhaps from 'smithy'. In Ireland, Woulfe gives both Smith and Smyth as English forms of the Gaelic Ó Gobhann and Mac an Ghabhann. Smyth is usually pronounced 'Smith'.[1][3][2][17]

Is there a Smith family crest?

No. A name borne by countless unrelated families in England, Scotland and Ireland cannot have a single crest. Arms were granted to particular individuals and passed to their own heirs. A 'Smith family crest' sold for the surname as a whole has no historical basis, and no sourced arms are known for the Gaelic smith families.[1]

Where in Ireland is the Smith surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Smiths lived in Cavan (5,001), Antrim (4,977), Dublin (4,406). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Cavan (548 per 10,000), Meath (293 per 10,000), Monaghan (136 per 10,000).

How common was the Smith surname in Ireland?

31,994 people were recorded as Smyth or Smith or Smythe in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 6th most common surname. That is roughly 0.7% of the population, or 1 person in 137.

Looking for a Smith ancestor?

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

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Wikipedia contributors, Smith (surname) (2026). Quotes Charles Bardsley (1901) on Smyth and Willie O'Kane, 'Surnames of County Monaghan', Irish Roots (1998)
  2. Patrick Woulfe, Mac an Ghobhann (1923). Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames
  3. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Gobhann (1923). Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames
  4. Patrick Woulfe, Mac Gabhann (1923). Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames
  5. Wiktionary contributors, Mac Gabhann (2026)
  6. Patrick Woulfe, Mac an Ghobha (1923). Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames
  7. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Gobha (1923). Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames
  8. Patrick Woulfe, Gobha (1923). Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames
  9. Wiktionary contributors, gabha (2026)
  10. Wikipedia contributors, McGowan (2026)
  11. Wikipedia contributors, Thomas Smith (diplomat) (2026)
  12. Wikipedia contributors, Erasmus Smith (2026)
  13. Patrick Woulfe, Anglicisation of Irish Surnames (1923). Introductory chapter on phonetic rendering and 'translation' of surnames
  14. Wikipedia contributors, Patrick James Smyth (2026)
  15. Wikipedia contributors, Smyth (2026)
  16. Wiktionary contributors, Smythe (2026)
  17. Wikipedia contributors, Tommy Smyth (2026). Notes that Smyth is pronounced 'Smith'
  18. 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.
  19. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.