surnames.ie

Irish surname · 3rd most common in 1911

Walsh

Also spelt Walshe

Walsh means 'the Welshman'. It translates the Irish Breathnach, a name the Irish gave to the Welsh-born soldiers and settlers who arrived with the Anglo-Norman invasion of the 1170s. Many unrelated families received it, and Walsh became one of Ireland's most widespread surnames.

Irish Breathnach · BreatnachIrish de Bhailís
1901 census
37,864
#3 · 86 per 10,000
1911 census
37,059
#3 · 84 per 10,000
1926 census
34,352
#3 · 116 per 10,000
Most numerous
Cork
Highest share: Kilkenny

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Norman Cambro-Norman: a descriptive name for settlers from Wales who came with the Anglo-Norman invasion, borne from the start by many separate families.[1][2]

Breathnach
Modern spelling: Breatnach
“the Welshman”[1][3][4]
Woulfe notes that Breatnach is the more correct spelling. Older anglicised forms include Brannagh and Brennagh.
de Bhailís
“the Welshman”[5][3]
The Norman-French equivalent, from le Waleys; it also gives Wallace and Wallis.

Pronunciation

Walsh: WOLSH; in parts of the south and west of Ireland, WELSH

Breatnach: bren-HAKH (Munster) /bʲɾʲən̪ˠˈhɑx/[4]

Breatnach: BRAN-ukh (Connemara) /ˈbʲɾʲæn̪ˠəx/[4]

Breatnach: BRAH-nuh (Ulster) /ˈbʲɾʲahnˠa(x)/[4]

Place

Where the Walshs 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: 19.9 per 10,000 (335 people) Waterford: 319.4 per 10,000 (2,630 people) Dublin: 80.6 per 10,000 (3,871 people) Kilkenny: 408.3 per 10,000 (3,065 people) Carlow: 120.8 per 10,000 (439 people) Limerick: 103.3 per 10,000 (1,481 people) Louth: 30.3 per 10,000 (191 people) Tipperary: 109.6 per 10,000 (1,673 people) Roscommon: 32.6 per 10,000 (306 people) Meath: 48.6 per 10,000 (317 people) Wicklow: 45.5 per 10,000 (277 people) Cavan: 15.3 per 10,000 (140 people) Cork: 131 per 10,000 (5,151 people) Clare: 73.3 per 10,000 (766 people) Galway: 194.1 per 10,000 (3,539 people) Mayo: 234.9 per 10,000 (4,514 people) Sligo: 121.2 per 10,000 (959 people) Leitrim: 28.5 per 10,000 (180 people) Offaly: 82.7 per 10,000 (471 people) Laois: 87.3 per 10,000 (478 people) Kildare: 68 per 10,000 (455 people) Kerry: 118.1 per 10,000 (1,888 people) Monaghan: 23.8 per 10,000 (170 people) Wexford: 162.7 per 10,000 (1,666 people) Longford: 33.3 per 10,000 (146 people) Westmeath: 48.7 per 10,000 (293 people) Tyrone: 7.6 per 10,000 (108 people) Antrim: 16 per 10,000 (764 people) Armagh: 14 per 10,000 (168 people) Fermanagh: 8.7 per 10,000 (53 people) Londonderry: 10.1 per 10,000 (141 people) Down: 13.9 per 10,000 (424 people)
fewerup to 413 per 10,000

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

Highest concentration · 1911

Kilkenny

408 per 10,000

3,065 Walshs · 4.84× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Kilkenny 408
  2. Waterford 319
  3. Mayo 235
  4. Galway 194
  5. Wexford 163
  6. Cork 131
  7. Sligo 121
  8. Carlow 121

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
Antrim751764—1616—
Armagh197168—1614—
Carlow440439431118121126
Cavan121140153121519
Clare831766707747374
Cork5,3585,1514,942134131136
Donegal341335338202022
Down398424—1414—
Dublin3,3373,8714,196768184
Fermanagh6353—109—
Galway3,7063,5393,162192194187
Kerry1,8021,8881,856109118125
Kildare484455511796888
Kilkenny3,1163,0652,827413408400
Laois497478469878791
Leitrim219180176322931
Limerick1,5521,4811,497106103107
Londonderry134141—910—
Longford129146186283347
Louth194191203303033
Mayo4,8054,5144,110243235238
Meath304317311434950
Monaghan222170155302424
Offaly478471485798393
Roscommon345306315343338
Sligo997959907124121127
Tipperary1,7951,6731,622112110116
Tyrone102108—78—
Waterford2,8692,6302,605328319334
Westmeath292293269474948
Wexford1,7181,6661,632165163172
Wicklow267277287454650

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Walshs made up the largest share of the population. In Portnascully, Co. Kilkenny, about one resident in 5 was a Walsh.

DEDCountyWalshsShare
PortnascullyKilkenny174 21.7%
ShronowenKerry74 15.8%
BallycottonCork169 14.5%
RossinanKilkenny81 12.7%
CurGalway51 12.3%
CamusGalway65 12.2%
PollroneKilkenny114 11.3%
FiddownKilkenny87 11.0%

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

Walsh of the Mountains (Castlehoel)

the Walsh Mountains, barony of Iverk · Kilkenny

O'Hart, following Burke, says this family came over in 1170 and acquired large lands in south Kilkenny that took the name Walsh Mountains. Their stronghold was Castlehoel, also called Castlehale or Castle Hoel, named after an early member of the family. Wikipedia records that it was besieged and taken in 1650 after the family opposed Cromwell.[6][2]

Walsh of Carrickmines

Carrickmines, on the Dublin–Wicklow frontier · Dublin

Owners of Carrickmines Castle, one of a chain of castles guarding the Pale. In 1402 they warned Dublin of an O'Byrne attack. As Catholics they joined the Confederates in 1641, and when the castle was retaken in 1642 more than 300 Walshes, O'Byrnes and O'Tooles were killed.[7][6]

Walsh of Waterford

Waterford

O'Hart lists a Waterford branch, naming Henry Walsh, brother of Nicholas Walsh, a judge of the Queen's Bench under Elizabeth I. Antoine Walsh, the 18th-century Nantes shipowner, was the son of a Waterford merchant of Kilkenny origin.[6][8]

Walsh of Castle Walsh

Kerry

O'Hart names a family of Castle Walsh in County Kerry, with a member living in 1769. He gives no account of their origin.[6]

Warren, called Walsh, of east Kerry

east Kerry · Kerry

A Norman family, de Warenne, that Woulfe found was known as Bharain in Irish but, oddly, as Walsh in English in east Kerry. He suspected the family once had two surnames in use.[9]

The name over time

History

A name for newcomers from Wales

Walsh began as a description rather than a family name. The Irish called the Welsh-born followers of the Anglo-Norman invasion Breathnach, 'the Welshman', and the Normans themselves used the equivalent le Waleys, which became de Bhailís in Irish. Woulfe stresses that the name was applied generally to these settlers, so there were naturally many unrelated families of the name from the start. In English, both forms usually settled as Walsh or Walshe.[1][5][2]

Arrival with the invasion

Accounts of the first Walshes differ. O'Hart, following Burke, says that Philip Walsh, called Brannagh by the Irish, came with Robert FitzStephen and fought a sea battle against the Norse of Cork in 1174. Wikipedia mentions an ancestor called Walynus in the retinue of Maurice FitzGerald, possibly the same man as 'Philip of Wales', and notes other theories linking the family to Pembrokeshire, Cornwall or a north Welsh prince. These are family traditions, and they describe one lineage rather than all Walshes.[6][2]

The Walsh Mountains

In south Kilkenny, a Walsh family acquired lands in the barony of Iverk that came to be called the Walsh Mountains. Their stronghold, Castlehoel or Castlehale, is said by O'Hart to have been built by Philip Walsh's son Hayle and named after him. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms the family opposed Cromwell, and Wikipedia records that the castle was besieged and taken in 1650. O'Hart adds that members of the senior line later went to France and Austria and served in the armies there.[6][2]

Carrickmines and the Pale

Near Dublin, the Walshes held Carrickmines Castle on the frontier between the Pale and the Wicklow mountains. In 1402 they warned the city of an O'Byrne force gathering near Bray, and the mayor defeated it at the Battle of Bloody Bank. Two centuries later the Catholic Walshes sided with the Confederates in the 1641 rebellion. When English forces retook the castle in 1642, more than 300 people of the Walsh, O'Byrne and O'Toole families were massacred. Excavations before the M50 motorway was built recovered over 40,000 artefacts from the site.[7][2]

Walshes overseas

O'Hart records that members of the senior Kilkenny line served in the armies of France and Austria, and that its head was made Count Serrant in France. Antoine Walsh's father, a Waterford merchant of Kilkenny origin, settled in Saint-Malo after the Treaty of Limerick in 1691. Antoine became a wealthy Nantes shipowner whose fortune came partly from the Atlantic slave trade. In 1745 his ship Du Teillay carried Charles Edward Stuart to Scotland, and the exiled Stuart court made him Earl Walsh in its Jacobite peerage.[6][8]

Places linked to the name

  • Walsh Mountains, Co. Kilkenny — Lands in south Kilkenny that took their name from the Walsh family who held them.[6][2]
  • Iverk, Co. Kilkenny — Barony in which O'Hart places the Walsh Mountains lands.[6]
  • Castlehale (Castlehoel), Co. Kilkenny — Stronghold of the Walshes of the Mountains, taken in 1650.[6][2]
  • Carrickmines Castle, Co. Dublin — Walsh castle on the edge of the Pale, retaken with great loss of life in 1642.[7]

Everyday lives

The Walshs in the census

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

Walshs All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Walsh bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +22.6 points vs Ireland
Walshs 96.2%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −10.4 points vs Ireland
Walshs 2.8%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian −9.5 points vs Ireland
Walshs 0.6%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −2.7 points vs Ireland
Walshs 0.4%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 +11.8 points vs Ireland
Walshs 27.1%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 +9.5 points vs Ireland
Walshs 23.0%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties +2.6 points vs Ireland
Walshs 16.1%
All of Ireland 13.5%

588 Walshs spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ −2.8 points vs Ireland
Walshs 77.6%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ −1.9 points vs Ireland
Walshs 83.9%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 7,585 households about the same as Ireland
Walshs 4.82
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 higher than Ireland
Walshs 6.85
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living +0.7 points vs Ireland
Walshs 80.5%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer7,242
Farmer's son3,678
Farmer's daughter2,072
Agricultural labourer1,256
General labourer1,204
Farm servant1,133
Labourer1,043
Farm labourer798
House keeper770
Domestic servant700

Born outside Ireland

1.0% of Walshs in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England230
United States81
Scotland31
Australia & NZ9
Wales7
Canada6

Median age: 24 in 1901, 25 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Walshs

Men and boys

  1. John8,388
  2. Patrick6,457
  3. James5,216
  4. Michael5,114
  5. Thomas4,934
  6. William3,021
  7. Edward1,359
  8. Martin1,349
  9. Richard1,252
  10. Joseph1,056

Women and girls

  1. Mary9,781
  2. Bridget4,926
  3. Margaret3,495
  4. Ellen3,046
  5. Catherine2,138
  6. Kate2,106
  7. Annie1,691
  8. Anne1,338
  9. Elizabeth988
  10. Maggie950

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
Walsh35,38134,37431,492Search
Walshe2,4832,6852,860Search

Related forms

  • Walshe — A common spelling of the same name.[1][3]
  • Welsh, Welch — Wikipedia lists these as variants, and notes Walsh is often pronounced 'Welsh' in the south and west of Ireland.[2]
  • Brannagh, Brennagh, Brehnagh — Direct anglicisations of the Irish Breathnach rather than translations of it.[1][3]
  • Wallace, Wallis — Forms of the Norman le Waleys (de Bhailís), with the same meaning.[5]
  • Warren — A distinct Norman name that in east Kerry was rendered Walsh in English.[9]

Diaspora

The Walshs abroad

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

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Walsh105,079295th
Walshe41350564th

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

Heraldry

Is there a Walsh coat of arms?

Walsh families held several different coats of arms, which reflects the many separate families of the name. O'Hart, citing Burke, gives arms of a red chevron between three black arrowheads and a crest of a swan pierced by a dart. Wikipedia links a pierced-swan crest and the motto 'Pierced but not dead' (in Latin, 'Transfixus sed non mortuus') to the Walshes of Castlehale, and records a griffin's head with the motto 'Firm' for the Walshes of Ballykilcaven, Laois, and a demi-lion for those of Carrickmines. None of these belongs to every Walsh.[6][2]

Websites selling a single “Walsh 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 Walsh

  • Antoine Walsh (1703–1763)
    Nantes shipowner of Waterford descent who carried Bonnie Prince Charlie to Scotland in 1745.
  • Edward Walsh (1805–1850)
    Irish poet, born in Derry to parents from Millstreet, County Cork.
  • William Walsh (1841–1921)
    Catholic Archbishop of Dublin from 1885 and first Chancellor of the National University of Ireland.
  • Maurice Walsh (1879–1964)
    Kerry novelist whose short story 'The Quiet Man' became John Ford's Oscar-winning film.
  • Raoul Walsh (1887–1980)
    American film director of The Big Trail and The Roaring Twenties, and founder member of the Academy.
  • Rodolfo Walsh (1927–1977)
    Argentine writer of Irish descent, regarded as the founder of investigative journalism in Argentina.
  • Jill Paton Walsh (1937–2020)
    English novelist and children's writer, Booker-nominated for Knowledge of Angels.
  • Louis Walsh (born 1952)
    Irish music manager of Johnny Logan, Boyzone and Jedward, and television personality.
  • Marty Walsh (born 1967)
    Mayor of Boston from 2014 to 2021, later United States Secretary of Labor.
  • Ruby Walsh (born 1979)
    Irish jockey regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt riders of all time.

Questions

Questions about the Walsh name

Is Walsh an Irish surname?

Yes, though its roots are in Wales. Walsh translates the Irish Breathnach, 'the Welshman', a name the Irish gave to Welsh-born settlers who came with the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 1170s. Their descendants have lived in Ireland for over eight hundred years, and Woulfe already counted Walsh among the most numerous Irish surnames in 1923.[1][2]

What is Walsh in Irish?

Breathnach, or in the modern standard spelling Breatnach. Woulfe notes that Breatnach is in fact the more correct form. The Norman equivalent, de Bhailís, from le Waleys, also exists in Irish and lies behind some Walshes as well as the names Wallace and Wallis.[1][5][3]

How do you pronounce Walsh?

In English it is usually said WOLSH, but Wikipedia notes that in the south and west of Ireland it is often pronounced like 'Welsh'. In Irish, Breatnach is said roughly bren-HAKH in Munster, with the stress on the second syllable, and BRAN-ukh in Connemara, according to Wiktionary.[2][4]

Is Walsh Irish or Welsh?

Both, in a sense. The name records that the first bearers came from Wales in the late 12th century, which is what Breathnach and Walsh both mean. But the families who carried it settled in Ireland in the 1170s and became Irish. A modern Walsh is almost always of Irish descent, not recent Welsh descent.[1][2]

Is there a Walsh family crest or coat of arms?

There are several, which is the honest answer for a name borne by many unrelated families. O'Hart, citing Burke, records arms with a chevron and three arrowheads and a crest of a swan pierced by a dart. Wikipedia credits other crests and mottoes to the Walshes of Ballykilcaven and of Carrickmines. Each belonged to a particular family line.[6][2]

What is the Walsh family motto?

The best known is 'Transfixus sed non mortuus', 'pierced but not dead', linked by Wikipedia to the Walshes of Castlehale in Kilkenny and their crest of a swan pierced by an arrow. Wikipedia also gives 'Firm' for the Walshes of Ballykilcaven. These were mottoes of individual families, not of all Walshes.[2]

Where in Ireland is the Walsh surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Walshs lived in Cork (5,151), Mayo (4,514), Dublin (3,871). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Kilkenny (408 per 10,000), Waterford (319 per 10,000), Mayo (235 per 10,000).

How common was the Walsh surname in Ireland?

37,059 people were recorded as Walsh or Walshe in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 3rd most common surname. That is roughly 0.8% of the population, or 1 person in 118.

Looking for a Walsh ancestor?

Search every Walsh 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, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, entry 'Breathnach' (1923)
  2. Wikipedia contributors, Walsh (surname) (2026)
  3. Gaois research group, Dublin City University, Sloinnte: Irish surname dataset (version 2) (2022). Modern standard Irish forms.
  4. Wiktionary contributors, Breatnach (2026)
  5. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, entry 'de Bhailéis, de Bhailís' (1923)
  6. John O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees, 'Walsh' (1892). O'Hart draws on Burke's General Armory for the family's origin and arms.
  7. Wikipedia contributors, Carrickmines Castle (2026)
  8. Wikipedia contributors, Antoine Walsh (2026)
  9. Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames, entry 'Bharain' (1923)
  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.

How we compile these figures: methodology.