Anglo Norman Names in our Irish Family Tree
Most of us recognize Irish names as ones beginning with either ‘O’, ‘Mac’ or Mc”. Another group of early Irish included the Anglo-Norman invaders of the 12th and 13th centuries. Anglo-Norman surnames in Ireland comprise about 10% of the population.
Anglo-Norman invaders included French, English, Welsh and Flemish names. The earliest Anglo-Norman invaders came from Normandy. This part of France was settled by Danish Vikings who called this land Normandy. By 1066 these Frenchmen of Viking descent invaded England and William the Conqueror became the first Norman King.
For the next century these invaders made their way to Ireland. Unlike later invaders, the early Anglo-Normans blended in with the rest of the Irish population. Anglo-Norman surnames can be found in our own family tree. Examples of these names appear below.
Walsh[e]/Brennagh/Brannagh
This surname is the most common of all Irish surnames of Anglo-Norman origin, and comes in at about fourth in the list of the top ten most numerous Irish surnames of today. In Gaelic the name translates as Breathnach, (the Briton or Welshman. (Batt Ryan's father was named James Ryan. James Ryan's mother was a Walsh, according to records held by the Tipperary Historical Society.)
Sherlock
Derived from the Old English Scirloc, denoting a bright haired individual. Surnames are concentrated in Cork, Tipperary, Waterford, Limerick and Kildare. The Waterford family remained important gentry in that county for several centuries, while by the sixteenth century individuals of the name are found in Kilkenny and Dublin, in addition to most of the counties where they occur earlier. This surname can be found in all parts of Ireland today. (In 1908 “Irish” John Smith visited his cousin James Greenan in Edinburgh. James was married to a Sherlock.)
Russell
Derived from a French term for a red-haired individual and is a very common surname in all countries associated with Anglo-Norman culture. While the surname is relatively common today throughout Ireland, about half of all Russells occur in the province of Ulster, and many (though not all) of these must descend from British settlers of the seventeenth century. (Russell surnames appear as witnesses for James and Annie Ryan's children in Newport, County Tipperary. In most cases, Catholics would find relatives to act as godparents.)
Power
The Power lineage became established in County Waterford at the time of the conquest, from where branches spread into Tipperary, Cork and Kilkenny. This surname comes from a French word meaning ‘poor’ but may be a from “le Poher” meaning a native of Picardy in Power Head in County Cork is named from a local branch of the family.
Fitzgerald
This is another familiar Anglo-Norman name. It translates as son of Gerald, with Gerald meaning ‘rule of the spear’. ("Kit" Catharine (Kennedy-Fitzgerald) married Michael Smith. Her mother was born Margaret Hill and Margaret married into the Fitzgerald family. Margaret's sister, Eliza, married Batt Ryan.)
Fleming
The majority of Irish Flemings must descend from the many individual Flemings who settled throughout the Anglo-Norman colonial area at the time of the invasion. Certainly the name occurs in virtually every. The surname is scattered throughout Ireland. In Ulster most Flemings probably descend from 17th century Scottish settlers. One of Nancy Ryan’s daughters married into the Fleming family.
Burke/Bourke
The first of this family, William de Burgh, a native of Norfolk, came to Ireland with King John in 1185 and obtained lands in Tipperary and elsewhere in Munster. All Irish Burkes claim descent from this William. William’s son Richard was created earl of Ulster and led the conquest of Connacht from his new town of Galway. For a period, his descendants were among the most powerful lords of the colony, being the chief magnates of Connacht and Ulster while retaining extensive lands in Munster. Eventually, with the decay of central government in the colony, the family’s unity was fragmented resulting in three separate ‘clans’ emerging: the Clanrickarde Burkes in Galway, the MacWilliam Iochtar Burkes in Mayo and the Clanwilliam Burkes in southern Tipperary. The latter branch lost much of their lands to an O’Brien resurgence in the fifteenth century while those of Galway and Mayo remained powerful into the seventeenth century. (One of James and Annie Ryan’s daughters married a Burke.)