What Irish Surnames Remember — Part 2: The Names That Came Ashore

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What Irish Surnames Remember — Part 2: The Names That Came Ashore

Irish surnames are not only a story of Ó, Mac, Ní and Nic. They are also a story of arrival.

In Part 2 of What Irish Surnames Remember, we look at the names that came into Ireland through conquest, sea-roads, settlement, exile, work and migration — and how many of them became part of the Irish story.

From Norman names like FitzGerald, Burke, Power, Roche and Barry, to Norse-linked names like Doyle, MacAuliffe, MacManus, Cotter and MacIver, this episode explores how surnames can carry memory of contact across water.

We also look at names like Lynch, where one spelling can hide more than one history, and Walsh and Joyce, names that show how yesterday's outsider can become tomorrow's local surname.

Along the way, we ask:

When does a name become Irish?

Is it when it begins in Irish?

When it has an Ó or a Mac?

When it is spoken here?

When it is written into records here?