There have been many notable Irish people throughout history. After
presidents of the United States
have had some Irish ancestry.
The population of Ireland is about 6.9 million, but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish forebears, making the
The United Arab Emirates. The United States has the most people of Irish descent, while in Australia those of Irish descent are a higher percentage of the population than in any other country outside Ireland.[23] Many Icelanders have Irish and Scottish Gaelic forebears.[citation needed
R-L21 is the dominant subclade within Ireland, reaching a frequency of 65%. This subclade is also dominant in Scotland, Wales and Brittany and descends from a common ancestor who lived in about 2,500 BC.[30]
According to 2009 studies by Bramanti et al. and Malmström et al. on
mtDNA,[31][32] related western European populations appear to be largely from the neolithic and not paleolithic era, as previously thought. There was discontinuity between mesolithic
central Europe and modern European populations mainly due to an extremely high frequency of haplogroup U (particularly U5) types in mesolithic central European sites.
The existence of an especially strong genetic association between the Irish and the
autosomal component present in modern Europeans which was not present in Neolithic or Mesolithic Europeans, and which would have been introduced into Europe with paternal lineages R1b and R1a, as well as the Indo-European languages. This genetic component, labelled as "Yamnaya" in the studies, then mixed to varying degrees with earlier Mesolithic hunter-gatherer and Neolithic farmer populations already existing in western Europe.[36][37][38]
A more recent whole genome analysis of
Pontic-Caspian steppe. Modern Irish are the population most genetically similar to the Bronze Age remains, followed by Scottish and Welsh, and share more DNA with the three Bronze Age men from Rathlin Island than with the earlier Ballynahatty Neolithic woman.[39][40]
A 2017 genetic study done on the Irish shows that there is fine-scale population structure between different regional populations of the island, with the largest difference between native 'Gaelic' Irish populations and those of Ulster Protestants known to have recent, partial British ancestry. They were also found to have most similarity to two main ancestral sources: a 'French' component (mostly northwestern French) which reached highest levels in the Irish and other Celtic populations (Welsh, Highland Scots and Cornish) and showing a possible link to the Bretons; and a 'West Norwegian' component related to the Viking era.[41][42]
As of 2016, 10,100 Irish nationals of African descent referred to themselves as "Black Irish" in the national census.[43] The term "Black Irish" is sometimes used outside Ireland to refer to Irish people with black hair and dark eyes. One theory is that they are descendants of Spanish traders or of the few sailors of the Spanish Armada who were shipwrecked on Ireland's west coast, but there is little evidence for this.[44]
Irish Travellers
ethnic people of Ireland. A DNA study found they originally descended from the general Irish population, however, they are now very distinct from it. The emergence of Travellers as a distinct group occurred long before the Great Famine, a genetic analysis shows. The research suggests that Traveller origins may in fact date as far back as 420 years to 1597. The Plantation of Ulster began around that time, with native Irish displaced from the land, perhaps to form a nomadic population.[45]
One Roman historian records that the Irish people were divided into "sixteen different nations" or tribes.[46] Traditional histories assert that the Romans never attempted to conquer Ireland, although it may have been considered.[46] The Irish were not, however, cut off from Europe; they frequently raided the Roman territories,[46] and also maintained trade links.[47]
Among the most famous people of ancient Irish history are the
were purely fictional, they would still be representative of the character of the Irish people:
...such beautiful fictions of such beautiful ideals, by themselves, presume and prove beautiful-souled people, capable of appreciating lofty ideals.[48]
The introduction of Christianity to the Irish people during the 5th century brought a radical change to the Irish people's foreign relations.[49] The only military raid abroad recorded after that century is a presumed invasion of Wales, which according to a Welsh manuscript may have taken place around the 7th century.[49] In the words of Seumas MacManus:
If we compare the history of Ireland in the 6th century, after Christianity was received, with that of the 4th century, before the coming of Christianity, the wonderful change and contrast is probably more striking than any other such change in any other nation known to history.[49]
Following the conversion of the Irish to Christianity, Irish secular laws and social institutions remained in place.[50]
The 'traditional' view is that, in the 4th or 5th century, Goidelic language and Gaelic culture was brought to Scotland by settlers from Ireland, who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast.[51][52] This is based mostly on medieval writings from the 9th and 10th centuries. The archaeologist Ewan Campbell argues against this view, saying that there is no archaeological or placename evidence for a migration or a takeover by a small group of elites. He states that "the Irish migration hypothesis seems to be a classic case of long-held historical beliefs influencing not only the interpretation of documentary sources themselves but the subsequent invasion paradigm being accepted uncritically in the related disciplines of archaeology and linguistics."[53] Dál Riata and the territory of the neighbouring Picts merged to form the Kingdom of Alba, and Goidelic language and Gaelic culture became dominant there. The country came to be called Scotland, after the Roman name for the Gaels: Scoti. The Isle of Man and the Manx people also came under massive Gaelic influence in their history.
Irish missionaries such as
Vergilius became the patron saints of Würzburg in Germany and Salzburg
in Austria, respectively.
Irish missionaries founded monasteries outside Ireland, such as
Common to both the monastic and the secular bardic schools were Irish and
Hebrew and Greek were studied, the latter probably being taught at Iona.[56]
"The knowledge of Greek", says Professor Sandys in his History of Classical Scholarship, "which had almost vanished in the west was so widely dispersed in the schools of Ireland that if anyone knew Greek it was assumed he must have come from that country."'[57]
Since the time of
Greek theological tradition, previously almost unknown in the Latin West.[58]
The influx of
Aud the Deep-minded, and a Gaelic slave brought to Iceland.[22]
Names that begin with Mac or Mc include: Mac Cárthaigh (
McGee), Mac Aonghuis (McGuinness), Mac Cana (McCann), Mac Lochlainn (McLaughlin) and Mac Conallaidh (McNally). Mac is commonly anglicised Mc. However, "Mac" and "Mc" are not mutually exclusive, so, for example, both "MacCarthy" and "McCarthy" are used. Both "Mac" and "Ó'" prefixes are both Irish in origin, Anglicized Prefix Mc is far more common in Ireland than Scotland with 2/3 of all Mc Surnames being Irish in origin[62] However, "Mac" is more common in Scotland and Ulster than in the rest of Ireland; furthermore, "Ó" surnames are less common in Scotland having been brought to Scotland from Ireland.[63]
The proper surname for a woman in Irish uses the feminine prefix nic (meaning daughter) in place of mac. Thus a boy may be called Mac Domhnaill whereas his sister would be called Nic Dhomhnaill or Ní Dhomhnaill – the insertion of 'h' follows the female prefix in the case of most consonants (bar H, L, N, R, & T).
A son has the same surname as his father. A female's surname replaces Ó with Ní (reduced from Iníon Uí – "daughter of the grandson of") and Mac with Nic (reduced from Iníon Mhic – "daughter of the son of"); in both cases the following name undergoes lenition. However, if the second part of the surname begins with the letter C or G, it is not lenited after Nic.[citation needed] Thus the daughter of a man named Ó Maolagáin has the surname Ní Mhaolagáin and the daughter of a man named Mac Gearailt has the surname Nic Gearailt. When anglicised, the name can remain O' or Mac, regardless of gender.
There are a number of Irish surnames derived from Norse personal names, including Mac Suibhne (Sweeney) from Swein and McAuliffe from "Olaf". The name Cotter, local to County Cork, derives from the Norse personal name Ottir. The name Reynolds is an Anglicization of the Irish Mac Raghnaill, itself originating from the Norse names Randal or Reginald. Though these names were of Viking derivation some of the families who bear them appear to have had Gaelic origins.
"Fitz" is an old Norman French variant of the Old French word fils (variant spellings filz, fiuz, fiz, etc.), used by the Normans, meaning son. The
Norman Irish origin is the 'de' habitational prefix, meaning 'of' and originally signifying prestige and land ownership. Examples include de Búrca (Burke), de Brún, de Barra (Barry), de Stac (Stack), de Tiúit, de Faoite (White), de Londras (Landers), de Paor (Power). The Irish surname "Walsh" (in Irish Breathnach) was routinely given to settlers of Welsh
origin, who had come during and after the Norman invasion. The Joyce and Griffin/Griffith (Gruffydd) families are also of Welsh origin.
The Mac Lochlainn, Ó Maol Seachlainn, Ó Maol Seachnaill, Ó Conchobhair, Mac Loughlin and Mac Diarmada families, all distinct, are now all subsumed together as MacLoughlin. The full surname usually indicated which family was in question, something that has been diminished with the loss of prefixes such as Ó and Mac. Different branches of a family with the same surname sometimes used distinguishing epithets, which sometimes became surnames in their own right. Hence the chief of the clan Ó Cearnaigh (Kearney) was referred to as An Sionnach (Fox), which his descendants use to this day. Similar surnames are often found in Scotland for many reasons, such as the use of a common language and mass Irish migration to Scotland in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries.
Late Medieval and Tudor Ireland
A 16th century perception of Irish women and girls, illustrated in the manuscript "Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel". Painted by Lucas d'Heere in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Preserved in the Ghent University Library.[65]
The Irish people of the Late Middle Ages were active as traders on the European continent.[66] They were distinguished from the English (who only used their own language or French) in that they only used Latin abroad—a language "spoken by all educated people throughout Gaeldom".[67] According to the writer Seumas MacManus, the explorer Christopher Columbus visited Ireland to gather information about the lands to the west,[68] a number of Irish names are recorded on Columbus' crew roster preserved in the archives of Madrid and it was an Irishman named Patrick Maguire who was the first to set foot in the Americas in 1492;[68] however, according to Morison and Miss Gould[clarification needed], who made a detailed study of the crew list of 1492, no Irish or English sailors were involved in the voyage.[69]
An English report of 1515 states that the Irish people were divided into over sixty Gaelic lordships and thirty Anglo-Irish lordships.[50] The English term for these lordships was "nation" or "country".[50] The Irish term "oireacht" referred to both the territory and the people ruled by the lord.[50] Literally, it meant an "assembly", where the Brehons would hold their courts upon hills to arbitrate the matters of the lordship.[50] Indeed, the Tudor lawyer John Davies described the Irish people with respect to their laws:
There is no people under the sun that doth love equal and indifferent (impartial) justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves, as they may have the protection and benefit of the law upon which just cause they do desire it.[70]
Another English commentator records that the assemblies were attended by "all the scum of the country"—the labouring population as well as the landowners.[50] While the distinction between "free" and "unfree" elements of the Irish people was unreal in legal terms, it was a social and economic reality.[50] Social mobility was usually downwards, due to social and economic pressures.[50] The ruling clan's "expansion from the top downwards" was constantly displacing commoners and forcing them into the margins of society.[50]
had settled in Ireland in the Munster plantations in 1580.
The 16th century
Age of exploration brought an interest among the English to colonize Ireland with the reign of the Tudors. King Henry IV established surrender and regrants to the Irish, but it was not until the Catholic queen Mary I of England who started the first plantations in Ireland in 1550, this would become the model for English colonization moving forward in Ireland and would later form the British imperial model[73][74] The 1550 plantation counties were known as Philipstown (now Daingean) and Maryborough (now Portlaoise) named by the English planters at the time.[75] A group of explorers, known as the West Country Men
, were active in Ireland at around this time.
The
Queen Elizabeth I was a total failure[76][77][78] This was followed by the somewhat successful first British-English colony the Munster planations which had a population of 4,000 in 1580 and in the 1620s may have grown to 16,000[79][80]
There have been notable Irish scientists. The Anglo-Irish scientist
Rear Admiral Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), an Irish naval officer of Huguenot descent, was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force. George Boole (1815–1864), the mathematician who invented Boolean algebra, spent the latter part of his life in Cork. The 19th century physicist George Stoney introduced the idea and the name of the electron. He was the uncle of another notable physicist, George FitzGerald
.
Jonathan Swift, one of the foremost prose satirists in the English language
The Irish bardic system, along with the
Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill. Irish Catholics continued to receive an education in secret "hedgeschools", in spite of the Penal laws.[82] A knowledge of Latin was common among the poor Irish mountaineers in the 17th century, who spoke it on special occasions, while cattle were bought and sold in Greek in the mountain market-places of County Kerry.[83]
For a comparatively small population of about 6 million people, Ireland made an enormous contribution to literature.
Known as An Górta Mór ("The Great Hurt") in the Irish language, during the famine millions of Irish people died and emigrated during Ireland's largest famine. The famine lasted from 1845 - 1849, and it was worst in the year 1847, which became known as Black '47. The famine occurred due to the extremely impoverished Irish population's staple food the potato being infected with Blight, and the British administration appropriating all other crops and livestock to feed her armies abroad.[84] This meant the crop failed and turned black. Starving people who tried to eat them would only vomit it back up soon afterwards. Soup kitchens were set up but made little difference. The British government produced little aid, only sending raw corn known as 'Peel's Brimstone' to Ireland. It was known by this name after the British Prime Minister at the time, Robert Peel, and the fact that many Irish weren't aware of how to cook corn. This led to little or no improvement. The British government set up workhouses which were disease-ridden (with cholera, TB and others) but they also failed as little food was available and many died on arrival as they were overworked. Some British political figures at the time saw the famine as a purge from God to exterminate the majority of the native Irish population.[citation needed
]
Ireland's Holocaust mural on the Ballymurphy Road, Belfast. "An Gorta Mór, Britain's genocide by starvation, Ireland's holocaust 1845–1849, over 1,500,000 deaths".
Irish people emigrated to escape the famine journeying predominantly to the east coast of the United States, especially Boston and New York, as well as Liverpool in England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Many records show the majority of Irish emigrants to Australia were in fact prisoners. A substantial proportion of these committed crimes in hopes of being extradited to Australia, favouring it to the persecution and hardships they endured in their homeland. Emigrants travelled on 'Coffin Ships', which got their name from the often high mortality rates on board. Many died of disease or starved. Conditions on board were abysmal - tickets were expensive so stowaways were common, and little food stuff was given to passengers who were simply viewed as cargo in the eyes of the ship workers. Notable coffin ships include the Jeanie Johnston and the Dunbrody.
There are statues and memorials in Dublin, New York and other cities in memory of the famine. The Fields of Athenry is a late-20th century song about the Great Famine and is often sung at national team sporting events in memory and homage to those affected by the famine.[citation needed]
The Great Famine is one of the biggest events in Irish history and is ingrained in the identity on the nation to this day. It was a major factor in Irish nationalism and Ireland's fight for independence during subsequent rebellions, as many Irish people felt a stronger need to regain independence from British rule after the famine.[citation needed]
unionism). Four polls taken between 1989 and 1994 revealed that when asked to state their national identity, over 79% of Northern Irish Protestants replied "British" or "Ulster" with 3% or less replying "Irish", while over 60% of Northern Irish Catholics replied "Irish" with 13% or less replying "British" or "Ulster".[85] A survey in 1999 showed that 72% of Northern Irish Protestants considered themselves "British" and 2% "Irish", with 68% of Northern Irish Catholics considering themselves "Irish" and 9% "British".[86] The survey also revealed that 78% of Protestants and 48% of all respondents felt "Strongly British", while 77% of Catholics and 35% of all respondents felt "Strongly Irish". 51% of Protestants and 33% of all respondents felt "Not at all Irish", while 62% of Catholics and 28% of all respondents felt "Not at all British".[87][88][citation needed
In the Republic of Ireland, as of 2022, 3.5 million people or about 69.1% of the population are Catholic.[89] In Northern Ireland, about 41.6% of the population are Protestant (19.1% Presbyterian, 13.7% Church of Ireland, 3.0% Methodist, 5.8% other Christian) whilst approximately 40.8% are Catholic as of 2011.
The 31st
Mass in Phoenix Park in 1979.[92] The idea of faith has affected the question of Irish identity even in relatively recent times, apparently more so for Catholics and Irish-Americans. Today the majority of Irish people in the Republic of Ireland identify as Catholic, although church attendance has significantly dropped in recent decades. In Northern Ireland, where almost 50% of the population is Protestant
, there has also been a decline in attendances.
What defines an Irishman? His faith, his place of birth? What of the Irish-Americans? Are they Irish? Who is more Irish, a Catholic Irishman such as
C.S. Lewis, an Ulster Protestant, who is walking towards it, even though he never ultimately crosses the threshold?[93]
This has been a matter of concern over the last century for the followers of nationalist ideologists such as
DP Moran
.
Irish identity
St Patrick's Day
parade in Dublin
Celtic nation.[94] He estimated that ethnically, 5/6ths of the nation were either of Gaelic Irish-origin, or descended from returned Scottish Gaels (including much of the Ulster Scots) and some Celtic Welsh (such as his own ancestors and those carrying surnames such as Walsh and Griffiths).[94] As part of this he was a staunch supporter of the Irish language as the "national language".[94] In regards to the Germanic minority in Ireland (of Norman and Anglo-Saxon origin) he believed that they could be assimilated into Irishness if they had a "willingness to be part of the Irish Nation".[95]
Europe
The
Citizens of the European Union with the Maastricht Treaty signed in 1992. This brought a further question for the future of Irish identity; whether Ireland was "closer to Boston than to Berlin
:"
History and geography have placed Ireland in a very special location between America and Europe... As Irish people our relationships with the United States and the European Union are complex. Geographically we are closer to Berlin than Boston. Spiritually we are probably a lot closer to Boston than Berlin. – Mary Harney, Tánaiste, 2000[96]
The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and nations of the Caribbean such as Jamaica and Barbados. These countries all have large minorities of Irish descent, who in addition form the core of the Catholic Church in those countries.
Many famous and influential figures have claimed Irish ancestry such as
Many Irish people were also transported to the island of
St. Patrick's Day as a public holiday to commemorate the revolt and honour those who lost their lives.[98] People of Irish descent also feature strongly in Latin America, especially in Argentina and important minorities in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. In 1995, President Mary Robinson reached out to the "70 million people worldwide who can claim Irish descent".[99] Today the diaspora is believed to contain an estimated 80 million people.[100]
There are also large Irish communities in some mainland European countries, notably in Spain, France and Germany. Between 1585 and 1818, over half a million Irish departed Ireland to serve in the wars on the Continent, in a constant emigration romantically styled the"
Great Famine of the late 1840s. A million are thought to have emigrated to Liverpool as a result of the famine.[105] For both the Irish in Ireland and those in the resulting diaspora, the famine entered folk memory[106] and became a rallying point for various nationalist movements
.
There are
Irish immigrants in the Caribbean, especially on Barbados, Jamaica, and Montserrat.[107] They often have Irish surnames, speak a form of Caribbean English influenced by the Irish vernacular and, in some cases, sing Irish songs.[108]
John Carroll
, first Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United StatesIgnacio Comonfort 25th president of Mexico
People of Irish descent are the second largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States, after
In the mid-19th century, large numbers of Irish immigrants were conscripted into
American Catholics.[119] They fought until their surrender at the decisive Battle of Churubusco, and were executed outside Mexico City by the American government on 13 September 1847.[119] The battalion is commemorated in Mexico each year on 12 September.[120]
During the 18th and 19th centuries, 300,000 free emigrants and 45,000 convicts left Ireland to settle in Australia.
Census, 1,803,741 residents identified themselves as having Irish ancestry either alone or in combination with another ancestry.[122] However this figure does not include Australians with an Irish background who chose to nominate themselves as 'Australian' or other ancestries. The Australian embassy in Dublin states that up to thirty per cent of the population claim some degree of Irish ancestry.[123]
It is believed that as many as 30,000 Irish people emigrated to Argentina between the 1830s and the 1890s.[12] This was encouraged by the clergy, as they considered a Catholic country, Argentina, preferable to a more Protestant United States. This flow of emigrants dropped sharply when assisted passage to Australia was introduced at which point the Argentine government responded with their own scheme and wrote to Irish bishops, seeking their support. However, there was little or no planning for the arrival of a large number of immigrants, no housing, no food.[124] Many died, others made their way to the United States and other destinations, some returned to Ireland, a few remained and prospered. Thomas Croke Archbishop of Cashel, said: "I most solemnly conjure my poorer countrymen, as they value their happiness hereafter, never to set foot on the Argentine Republic however tempted to do so they may be by offers of a passage or an assurance of comfortable homes."[125] Some notable Argentines of Irish descent and Irish people who settled in Argentina include Che Guevara, former president Edelmiro Julián Farrell, and admiral William Brown.
There are people of Irish descent all over South America, such as the Chilean liberator Bernardo O'Higgins and the Peruvian photographer Mario Testino. Although some Irish retained their surnames intact, others were assimilated into the Spanish vernacular. The last name O'Brien, for example, became Obregón.
People of Irish descent are also one of the largest self-reported ethnic groups in Canada, after
^American FactFinder, United States Census Bureau. "U.S. Census Bureau, 2007". Factfinder.census.gov. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
^Murray, Edmundo (1 July 2006). "Brazil and Ireland". Society for Irish Latin American Studies. Archived from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
^Toman, p 10: "Abelard himself was... together with John Scotus Erigena (9th century), and Lanfranc and Anselm of Canterbury (both 11th century), one of the founders of scholasticism."
from the original on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
^An Act whereby the King and Queen's Majesties, and the Heires and Successors of the Queen, be entituled to the Countries of Leix, Slewmarge, Irry, Glimnaliry, and Offaily, and for making the same Countries Shire Grounds."; Phil. & Mar., 1556 c.2
^Martin Marix Evans; David Lyons (October 2003). A terrible beauty. Gill & Macmillan. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
^Andrews, Kenneth (1984). Trade, Plunder and Settlement: Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480–1630. Cambridge University Press. p. 184.
^MacCarthy-Morrogh, Michael (1983). The Munster Plantation, 1583–1641(PDF) (PhD). Royal Holloway College, London University. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
^The figure 1,250,000 is mentioned on the commemorative stone at the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park, Dublin; a quarter of the population of the island of Ireland, or a third of the population of Republic of Ireland
^Pearce, Joseph (March–April 2007). "Editorial: The Celtic Enigma". St. Austin Review. 7 (2). Ave Maria University, Naples, Florida: Sapientia Press: 1.
^ abcThomas Davis (28 February 2013). "Our National Language". From-Ireland.net. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
^Ryan, Sean (2006). "Botany Bay 1791–1867". Wild Geese Heritage Museum and Library Portumna, Co. Galway. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
^Cole, Patrick (29 March 1889). "Irish Emigrants to the Argentine Republic". Western Daily Press. Retrieved 29 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive. It is a sad and pitiable sight to see Irish mothers with, in some cases, their dying babes in their arms ... ... in many cases mothers sold their clothing from their backs to procure food for their starving children
^"The Irish in Argentina". Wander Argentina. 16 March 2010. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
References
Aldous, Richard (2007). Great Irish Speeches. London: Quercus Publishing PLC.
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