Irish surnames and locations

[Ruskie]

Is there anything online which gives an indication of distribution of Irish surnames? Something similar to this: http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/ .....

I have some Irish families who simply give their place of origin as "Ireland"  on Scottish censuses and bmd's. I figure that finding Irish ancestors = dead end, but I would at least like to have a vague idea of place of origin.

Thanks.

[Wicklow Rose]

You could try this one for 1890 distribution: http://www.ancestryireland.com/database.php?filename=db_mathesons, or this one (a search of Griffiths Valuation Householders Index) from 1848-64: http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_family_search_form.php.

[shanew147]

I've done an analysis of the surnames on Griffiths valuation (mid 1800s) - if you post the names I'll run them through this and give a distribution by county.



Shane

[TF13]

hi,

try this index;

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/

just type in the surname and it'll tell you the distribution of the name at the time of griffiths valuation. it will also give variants of the name and, if you're lucky, links to other site's connected to that particular surname.

tony

[Ruskie]

Thank you very much Wicklow Rose:
I was using AncestryIreland earlier today but did not see the surname distribution section, so thanks for that.
The griffiths.ask aboutireland is the site where I've been doing most of my recent searching.

Thank you for the link too TF13:
Another site I've been using a bit recently, but somehow I missed the surname section - it seems fairly comprehensive.

Shane, thank you for your kind offer. I think the above links will help me, but I would be very grateful for your help. The surnames are (with various spelling interpretations as you'd expect):

Farrell marries McCrudden
McCann marries Murphy
and then the Farrell son marries the McCann daughter  This family with their 3 children came from Ireland to Scotland between 1845 and 1848.


McVey marries Ru(o)ggan (my searches tell me this is probably Rogan)
Dulton/Dalton/Dutton marries Lunday.
and then the McVey son (b Ireland 1845) marries the Dulton daughter (b 1846 Ireland) (they marry and die in Scotland)

I've done a bit of digging around, so have some ideas  , but would be interested in what you come up with.

Thanks again to you all.

[shanew147]

all the names have plenty of variations - but most of the variations are uncommon. This is the top counties I get for each surname :

McCrudden
1.      Monaghan      23   
2.      Antrim      13   
3.      Down      2   
4.      Donegal      1   
5.      Fermanagh      1   
6.      Longford      1   
7.      Tyrone      1 

Farrell
1.      Longford      480   
2.      Dublin      292   
3.      Roscommon      229   
4.      Kildare      214   
5.      Meath      181   
6.      Westmeath      180   
7.      Galway      161   
8.      Kilkenny      154   
9.      Wicklow      148   
10.   Laois      121 

McCann
1.      Armagh      390   
2.      Antrim      234   
3.      Down      143   
4.      Louth      104   
5.      Dublin      97   
6.      Derry      95   

Murphy
1.      Cork      3222   
2.      Wexford      1678   
3.      Kilkenny      925   
4.      Kerry      761   
5.      Dublin      535   
6.      Armagh      524   

there does seem to be a concentration towards the midlands/north - except for the Murphy's, but that surname is represented in every county. I would say the McCrudden surname would be the one to follow - nice concentration in just two counties in the north-east.

some of the close sounding variations for McCrudden that I found are :

Mc Creddan
Mc Credden
Mc Creddin
Mc Credin
Mc Croddan
Mc Crodden
Mc Crottin
Mc Cruddan
Mc Crudden
Mc Cruddon



Shane

[Ruskie]

Well, thanks very much Shane!  So you think it's better to concentrate on the least common name and try to find the related surnames in the same area? That makes sense.

I'll tell you how I've been attempting to work this out using Griffiths, but I think I might have been approaching it the wrong way: 
I searched for people with the same forenames and surnames as those in my tree, although I realise that the date of Griffiths doesn't match the dates these people lived in Ireland.

I found Dulton (difficult to interpret writing of surname on Scottish death certificate - could be any of other variations listed in my previous post):
County - Down
Baronly - Kinelarty
Union - Downpatrick
Parish - Magherahamlet
Townland - Dunbeg Upper
Place name - Dunbeg Upper
Place type - Townland

I found McVey:
Co - Down
Barony - Kinelarty
Union - Downpatrick
Parish - Kilmore
Townland - Drumnaconagher
Place Name Drumnaconagher
Place type - Townland

I found Lunday in:
Downpatrick St
Co - Down
parish - Kilmore
Lots of Lundys in Magherahamlet

There are no Ruggans or Roggans anywhere (the Scottish death certifcate had 2 "g's") but there are Rogans in:
Barony - Kinelarty
Union - Downpatrick
Parish - Magherahamlet
and also in Kilmore

I gave up there as I was SO confused. I didn't even attempt Murphy as I already knew that surname was very common. And I noticed that there were also Farrell's everywhere and there were lots of variations of the surname, perhaps it was originally O'Farrell.

I kindof understand the divisions:
County, Barony, Union, Parish etc (and there is a lot of info on the net about this) but how similar do the place names on the lists have to be before you can know whether or not these families lived close enough to eachother for their children to have met and paired off? Are there any really detailed maps which show all these divisions, so I see if these places are close to eachother?

It's like some kind of giant code designed to make my brain hurt. And at best all you end up with is an educated guess. 

I do appreciate your help  - thanks again.

[aghadowey]

This site might help see where the places are located. The site is fantastic but can be difficult to get used to at first.
http://ireland.kiwicelts.com/irishMap/ireMap.html

[Ruskie]

Great, thank you Aghadowey - I will study it carefully. 

Added: That's just the ticket, thanks! It's a great help!