Customer Reviews

The Book of Irish Names: First, Family and Place Names

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This book contains two main sections. The first gives us a list of first names currently in use in Ireland and their history and meaning. It is moderately thorough, and contains a number of names which are not Celtic in their roots. The second section covers some of the more common family names in use in Ireland, with black and white pictures of the crests. A pronunciation guide would have been helpful, but is lacking. All in all, a nice book to add to one's library of Irish reference books.

This book addresses only a small number of the many irish names. The author in the introduction states that he is only listing 80 out of a possible 3,500 names??? I couldn't find any I was looking for. There must be better books on this subject.

Joseph Craig

Good source of frequently used first names in both Irish and English and their meanings. Lists of the most prominent Irish family names with crest (no color) and short history. Final section lists some Irish placenames and meaning of words.

It had an interesting history of my name (Ronald) at least. It told me "Ronald: from Rögnvaldr, a Norse name (of which Reginald is a modern variant) became Raonull amongst the Gaels of Scotland, from which came the English Ronald, a name still used in modern Ireland." Not a lot of details, but that's more than I had known. No references, so I have to trust that the information is correct.