RABBITT surname

[aitch]

Hello all,
Dipping my toe into the Irish Sea for the first time, so would welcome any help.

Does anyone know whether RABBITT was a common surname in Ireland?

Have discovered Peter RABBITT born 1836, Ireland, and his wife Ellen (also born in Ireland) living in Warrington, Lancashire in 1881. but that's all I have to go on.

Anyone any suggestions as to where I might start looking???
Many thanks

Aitch

[shanew147]

I dont see many Rabbitt surnames on Griffith's (1840's 1860s) or on later common surname lists. On Griffiths' most are located in Co. Galway. (see Griffith's Valuation)

McacLysaght's surnames of Ireland mentions that occurrences of the the surname in Ireland are not usually derived from the same English surname, but from the Irish for rabbit - i.e. coinín and the the associated surnames are : Cunneen, Cunneeny, Conheeny, Cunnane and Kinneen, and that these occurred in counties Clare, Galway, Mayo and Offaly.

To start a detailed search of pre-civil registration records you would need to establish the family religion and a fairly specific location - i.e. parish.

See :
  Introduction to Irish Records
  My Ancestor came from Ireland - where do I start?



Shane

[obbie]

1881
Name Age
Peter Rabbitt 45 ireland
Ellen Rabbitt 46 ireland
Mary J. Rabbitt 18 Lancashire
Michael Rabbitt 11 Lancashire
Patrick Duggan 21 ireland , relation

1891
Name Age
Peter Rabbitt 59 ireland
Ellen Rabbitt 58 ireland
Michael Rabbitt 21  Lancashire warrington

1901
Name Age
Peter Rabbitt 70 ireland
Ellen Rabbitt 70 ireland
Michael Rabbitt 31 Lancashire warrington

1861 Civil Parish: Warrington Ecclesiastical parish: St Elphin Town: Warrington
Name Age
Peter Rabbit 30 ireland
Ellen Rabbit 25 ireland
Patrick Rabbit 9 Lancashire warrington
Ellen Rabbit 1 Lancashire warrington

1871 Civil Parish: Warrington Ecclesiastical parish: Holy Trinity Town: Warrington
Name Age
Peter Robbitt 43 ireland
Ellen Robbitt 38 ireland
Patrick Robbitt 18 Lancashire warrington
Mary J Robbitt 8               //
James Robbitt 6               //
Michael Robbitt 1             //

Births Jun 1869   http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ lots of other births warrington .
 RABBITT  Michael     Warrington  8c 174    twins ?
RABBITT  Thomas     Warrington  8c 174     presume dies .


possible marriage peter rabbitt and ellen glynn 1852

Marriages Mar 1852   
 Rabbit  Peter    Warrington  8c 149
only ellen from page
Glynn  Ellen     Warrington  8c 149

first child
Births Mar 1853   
Rabbit  Patrick     Warrington  8c 106

1851 Civil Parish: Warrington Town: Warrington
Name Age
Peter Rabbit 36            all born just ireland
Catharine Rabbit 27      wife
Bartholomew Rabbit 5   son
Path Rabbit 2                son
Timothy Rabbit 29       here down lodgers
James Rabbit 28
Peter Rabbit 21  your peter rabbit ?
Honor Rabbit 25

1851 Civil Parish: Warrington Town: Warrington
Name Age
Ellen Glynn 19  your ellen ? ireland
Honor Glynn 14 ireland
at bottom of list of
Patrick Duggan 30  head ireland
Margaret Duggan 50
Thomas Ditecy 28
Patrick Murry 24
William Odonnell 23
Darby Quin 21
James White 26
Mary Treacy 27

you will have to order a childs birth to see if ellen glynn is correct then you can order there marriage

Rabbitt  Peter  age 85  Warrington  8c 248 Deaths Mar 1912   
would be worth while looking at english 1911 census as maybe hes put something other than ireland as birth place .

[aitch]

McacLysaght's surnames of Ireland mentions that occurrences of the the surname in Ireland are not usually derived from the same English surname, but from the Irish for rabbit - i.e. coinín and the the associated surnames are : Cunneen, Cunneeny, Conheeny, Cunnane and Kinneen, and that these occurred in counties Clare, Galway, Mayo and Offaly.

See :
  Introduction to Irish Records
  My Ancestor came from Ireland - where do I start?

Many thanks for this useful info Shane.   I'll take a look 

[aitch]

Thanks obbie for all this!!  I'll piece them altogether and then, like you say, it looks like some certificates will be needed!

Many thanks again.
Happy Christmas 

[Jack2227]

Unclaimed money; Next of Kin & Heirs;

Rabbitt Michael; born,Galway around 1876 (Heirs of)
---------------
Australian newspapers.

Jack

[aitch]

Now wouldn't that be a jolly bonus!
Thanks Jack

[RabbittIre]

I realise this thread is old, but I said I'd bump it on the off chance before pming the OP.

Just googling my own surname brought me here, unfortunately I'm not much into geneaology
Rabbitt is very much a Galway name, google Rabbitt's pub if you're interested in that aspect.

Family legend has it that some time in the middle of the 19th Century my Great something Grandad emigrated to California from somewhere near Tuam (county Galway) leaving behind a rake of brothers and sisters.

He struck it lucky in the gold rush and came back, only to find that the rest of the family had all emigrated to various parts of the world, and there were no forwarding details.

We are erm, fertile folk however.

Probably too late for you but the 1901 and 1911 Irish Census is online - http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

The bit about anglicanization of the surname is also a family story I've heard. It was originally a name that sounded like the Irish word for Rabbitt - something like Coinín (pronounced Cuneen)

In terms of record digitization, it's worth searching for Rabbett too. My family's 1911 census comes up as Rabbett when searched, even though the scanned form shows the dot, the looped handwriting makes it look like an e.