More Laois & Offaly Surnames

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G - H
Gamble

Originally English Gamble has been in Ireland since the seventeenth century. 40 births were registered in 1890 and 48 in 1865. The majority of these were in northeast Ulster. The name first appeared here in the Ulster inquisitions in Co. Armagh (1618) and Co. Cavan (1629); it is in the army lists of the 1640s; two Gambles are specified in Petty's "census" of 1659, one a merchant in Derry, the other in Cork city. The Hearth Money Rolls for the northern counties (1663-9), contain 18 Gamble families: and the Cork marriage license bonds have the name 13 times from 1670. The principal landed family was in Kilcooly in Co. Offaly. John Gamble (c. 1770-1831) was an author who wrote some admirable descriptions of life in his native Ulster. Gamble, with its variants Gambell, Gammel and Gamel, is derived from the Old-Swedish gamal (old). .

Geoghegan, usually nowadays without the prefix Mac, is a name which no non-Irish person will attempt to pronounce at sight; it has many synonyms, and one of these, Gehegan, is a phonetic approximation of the longer and common form. In Irish it is Mag Eoghagain, from Eochaidh, I.e. the now almost obsolete, but once common, Christian name Oghy. It will be observed that the initial "G" of Geoghegan comes from the prefix Mag, a variant of Mac - the anglicized form Mageoghegan was formerly much used. The sept of the MacGeoghegans is of the southern Ui Neill and of the stock of the famous sixth century King Niall of the Nine Hostages; it was located int he present barony of Moycashel, Co. Westmeath, with the chiefs' seat near Kilbeggan. These were of considerable importance up to the time of Cromwell when they suffered severely through war and confiscation. Fifteen MacGeoghegans, chiefs of Cinel Fiachrach or Kinalea, sometimes called lords thereof, are mentioned in the "Annals of the Four Masters" between 1291 and 1450, besides many others of the name, the last of these being Richard MacGeoghegan, who, after fighting with great gallantry, was killed at the siege of Dunboy in 1602. The military tradition was long maintained. Five of the sons of Charles MacGeoghegan of Sinan, Co. Westmeath, were killed during the Jacobite War in Ireland; and in the eighteenth century MacGeoghegans appear as soldiers on the continent, mostly in the service of France. The MacGeoghegan estates in Co. Westmeath were very extensive and were held by a number of different branches of the chiefly family. The most important of these properties was at Castletown, now called Castletown-Geoghegan. By the end of the seventeenth century the bulk of these vast estates had been confiscated or their owners, who ranked among the leading gentry of the county, outlawed. There have been many other distinguished MacGeoghegans - notably Ross, alias Roch, MacGeoghegan (1580-1644) [of Offaly ancestry and related to the O'Dempseys of Clanmaliere], the much persecuted Dominican, "saintly and enterprising" Bishop of Kildare; Conal MacGeoghegan, Chief of the Sept, translator of the "Annals of Clonmacnois" into English in 1627; another well-known historian, the Abbe James MacGeoghegan (1702-1764); and Anthony Geoghegan (1810-1889), poet; there were also three lesser poets of the name. St. Hugh of Rahue between Tullamore and Tyrrell's Pass in Co. Westmeath) was of the family which became MacGeoghegan when surnames were adopted. The saint's crozier was in the possession of the MacGeoghegan family for many centuries - it passed from them to the Nagles of Jamestown House, Co. Westmeath, a family now extinct. A branch of the MacGeoghegan sept settled in Bunowen, Co. Galway, and the name is found in that county as well as in their original territory. In the West it has been often shortened to Geoghan and even Gegan. The brothers Lawrence and Sebastian Gahagan, who were sculptors of note in London between 1760 and 1820 were Irishmen called Geoghegan at home. more >>>>

Gorman is a relatively common name in England, where it is derived from the Middle English personal name Gormund, from gar, meaning 'spear', and mund, meaning 'protection'. A few Irish Gormans may be of this connection, but in the vast majority of cases in Ireland the surname comes from the original Irish Mac Gormáin, from a diminutive of gorm, meaning 'blue'. The original homeland was in Co Laois, in Slievmargy, but they were dispossessed by the Prestons, a Norman family, and removed to counties Clare and Monaghan. The Clare branch became well known in later years for the extent of their wealth and hospitality, and for their patronage of poetry. From Clare they spread also into the adjoining county of Tipperary. When the native Irish began to resume the old O and Mac prefixes to their names in the nineteenth century, the Clare family mistakenly became 'O' Gorman', probably following the error of the than best known bearer of the surname, Chevalier Thomas O'Gorman (1725-1808), an exile in France. In Tipperary, the name has generally remained 'Gorman' while in Monaghan the original MacGorman still exists, along with the two versions.

Grenahan Grennan, an O name, Ó Grianáin in Irish, must not be confused with Grenaghan, which is a Mac name, MacGreannacháin. The O'Grennans are a Connacht family mainly found in Co. Mayo. There is also a family of Grennan or Grenan of Norman origin, at one time much in evidence in the Pale of Leinster. As early as 1205 a Robert de Grenan is met witnessing a deed in Co.Kildare, and the several Grenanstowns, in Meath and elsewhere, are named. from these families not from O'Grennans. Five Ballygrennans in Co. Limerick and a Ballygrenane in Co. Kerry, these are'derived from the Gaelic word grianán, (summer house) not from a proper name. Grenahan or Granahan is of different origin. The sept of Mac Greannacháin or Mag Reannacháin was seated in the parish of Mevagh, diocese of Raphoe.

The O prefix was dropped in the seventeenth century and does not seem to have been resumed at all in recent times. First met in 1265 when the Four Masters and other annalists record the death of Maelbrighde Ó Grugáin (or Ó Grocan) of Elphin. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries references to the name in our surviving records are plentiful, but by 1550 the sept had been dispersed from their homeland in Connacht to an unusual degree. In the Tudor Fiants, where the name appears usually as O'Grogan, with variants such as O'Grugane, O'Growgane and O'Gruogan, six of the relevant dozen relate to Co. Limerick, the others to counties Kildare, Offaly and Tipperary, and only one is placed near the sept's original habitat. None is from Co. Westmeath, yet less than a century later, when Petty's "census" was compiled in 1659, Grogan is listed as one of the principal Irish surnames in the barony of Farbill in that county and also in the barony of Ballyboy, Co. Offaly. Most of these people are described as husbandman and yeomen, though we have also a horseman, a tailor and even a labourer. Unlike most of our earlier records the Fiants are not concerned solely with landholders, soldiers and officials. Few townlands were named later than the early seventeenth century so that Ballygrogan in Co. Tipperary and Derrygrogan in Offaly, near Tullamore, presumably called after branches of the family, provide corroborative evidence of their establishment thereModern statistics also indicate their wide distribution in recent times: birth registrations show approximately the same number in three provinces with considerably fewer in Ulster: in the northern province the variants Groggan, Groogan and Grugan are found, Grugan almost peculiar to the Omagh district. In the seventeenth century one as a witness to the will of Nugent, Baron of Delvin, in 1602 is found, another Dominican Prior of Urlagh in 1631, another in the list of 1649 officers; and in this century begins the authenticated pedigree of the principal landed family of the name, Grogan of Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford, which is registered at the Office of Arms, Dublin Castle. Of this family was Cornelius Grogan (1738-1798) one of the Co. Wexford gentry who joined the United Irishmen: he was executed for his prominent part in the Insurrection; his brother Thomas, who fought on the other side, was killed in action. Sir Edward Grogan, Bart., (1802-1891), who was M.P. for Dublin City for 25 years, was also of this family.

All are anglicized forms of Ó Guaire. Gorry the most usual form and is mainly found in Co. Offaly. Tadhg O'Guaire who was slain in 1032 is described by the Four Masters as Lord of Uí Cuilinn: In 1406 Richard Gowery acquired English liberty at Maynooth; in 1618 "white lights" were specially provided at the wake in Dublin of Walter Gorry of the Merchant Tailors Guild; four of the name appear in the Co. Meath Inquisitions between 1619 and 1638; Henry Gory of Trim, Co. Meath, was among the first Jacobites outlawed in 1669; Seaghan Ó Guaire was the author of the Jacobite song "Ar maidin inde". There are few to be found in the eighteenth century but in the nineteenth they are met them again, mainly in Co. Offaly e.g., in Griffith's Valuation. In the 1865 birth registrations there are ten Gorrys, all in the Tullamore area -- the two Goreys in the same year were born respectively in Waterford and Dublin. The surname Gorey is never a toponymic derived from the town in Co. Wexford.

Hennessy is a name from which the prefix O has been entirely dropped in modern times, though O'Hennessy was still widely used in the seventeenth century. In Irish it is O hAonghusa, i.e. descendant of Aonghus or Angus. The principal sept of this name was located near the town of Kilbeggan and Croghan Hill, their territory being chiefly in the northern part of Co. Offaly, where they shared with O'Holohan the lordship of Clan Cholgain; a branch of this was located nearer to Dublin, the head of it being chief of Gailenga Beg on the north side of the River Liffey on the borders of Counties Meath and Dublin. The latter was displaced by the Anglo-Norman invasion. The Offaly O'Hennessys spread into Tipperary and Clare - in the latter county they are now called Henchy, formerly Hensey. Dr. Florence Hensey (b. 1715), whose trial in London as a secret agent of France in 1758 was a cause celebre, was one of these. Another distinct sept of O'Hennessy was of Corca Laoidhe, located near Ross Bay in South-west Cork. At the present day the name is principally associated with places called Ballyhennessy in Co. Clare, Co. Cork and Co. Kerry (near the Limerick border). To most people the name Hennessy suggests brandy rather than Ireland. The French Hennessy, famous for their cognac, are of Irish stock. Richard Hennessy (b. 1720), of Ballymacroy, Co. Cork (Mallow area), joined his Wild Geese relatives in France and became an officer in Dillon's Regiment: he fought at Fontneoy in 1742 and later settled in Cognac. His son James was a member of the French Chamber of Deputies and became a peer of France, though an Irishman and never naturalized. He married a Martell, another name intimately associated with cognac or brandy. Other Hennessys worthy of mention are Nicholas O'Hennessy, the Cistercian Bishop of Waterford and Lismore from 1480 to 1482, Henry Hennessy (1826-1901), scientist, Professor of Engineering in Newman's Catholic University (Dublin), and Sir John Pope Hennessy (1834-1891), first Catholic Conservative Irish M.P. at Westminster, both Corkmen; and the Kerryman William Hennessy (1828-1889), Gaelic scholar; while Irish-Americans of note were Most Rev. John Hennessy (1825-1900), Archbishop of Dubuque, and William John Hennessy, painter, son of John Hennessy, the Young Irelander.

Isaac Hipwell served in Dongan's Regiment of the royalist army in Ireland about the year 1665. A family of the name became established in Co. Leix after that and is well known today around Portlaoise.

The true sept of O'Horan (O hOdhrain in Irish) originated in Co. Galway whence they spread into Co. Mayo and are now fairly numerous in those Connacht counties. Another Gaelic surname, O hArrachain, which is a corruption of O Hannradhain (anglice Hanrahan) is commonly anglicized Horan, though in Thomond (Co. Clare), where this minor Dalcassian sept originated, it is usually pronounced, and sometimes written, more phonetically Harhan. Other anglicized forms recorded in Co.. Clare are Haren and Haran. Even when written Horan it is pronounced with an internal aspirate which is more accurately represented by the form Haughran, found int the birth registers of Co. Offaly as a synonym of Horan and often changed to Horan. Yet another variant in this case peculiar to Co. Cork, is O'Hourahan or O'Horahan, a rare name but one familiar formerly to readers of The Nation on account of its regular contributor M.J. O'Horahan. This family, quite distinct from the Thomond one, belonged to Co. Cork and were erenaghs of Ross. The Horans now found in not inconsiderable numbers in Co.. Cork are of this stock. The distinguished Admiral Horan of the British Navy is the son of a Co. Limerick man, presumably of Thomond lineage. The name has not been prominent in Irish cultural or political history.

Now rare this name was much more numerous in Ireland and of considerable note. The family came to Ireland as Scottish mercenaries under O'Neill. There is no doubt that they were closely associated with the O'Neills, for a Robert Hovenden married an O'Neill widow, Richard and Henry Hovenden are described in 1594 as foster brothers of the Earl of Tyrone and Henry liovenden had been the earl's secretary for ten years at the time of the Flight of the Earls in 1607; and in the subsequent Plantation of Ulster found them classed as "natives" in Co. Tyrone. In 1664 a Hovendon appeared in the lists of Co. Armagh householders. The name Hovenden is also closely associated with Leix where their main seat has been at Tankardstown since 1550. Egidius Hovenden, of Levediston, Co. Kildare, is described as "gent" in a Fiant of 1557 In the "census" of 1659 Hovendens appear as tituladoes in counties Cork, Tipperary, Clare and Down. In the attainders of Jacobites in 1691 there are two from Co. Armagh, one from Tyrone and one from Queen's Co. Three Hovendens, transplanted in 1657 as Papists were fromcounties Limerick and Mayo. In the Ormond Manuscripts lists of seventeenth century army personnel, the name is given as Hovenden alias Ovington In tre fifteenth century, de Offington occured quite often. in the Ormond Deeds. The name is found in Ireland long before that, David de Offynton, who was Seneschal of Kilkenny in 1295. Ovington is today almost obsolete but a modern synonym in Co. Derry is Huffington. There was a twelfth century annalist called Roger de Hovenden, whose work dealt with Ireland. In modern times Robert Hovenden, born at Dunmanway, Co. Cork in 1840, was a landscape and subject painter of note. He was killed in 1895 trying to save the life of a child at a railway crossing.

Ó hAoileéin in Munster and Ó hOileáin in connacht,both variants of Ó Faoláin. The name Hyland is fairly common in Mayo today, as it was in the second half of the eighteenth century. Though often mentioned in the 1659 "census", none relates to Connacht. Since the name does not appear in the Annals or genealogical manuscripts dealing with north Connacht it can be assumed that it was not a distinct sept. References to Hiland, O'Hilane, Hylan, O'Huylan are numerous in the Ormond Deeds, the Fiants and other mediaeval documents, as well as those of a later date, and all are to those dwelling in the O'Phelan country, i.e. primarily Co. Waterford, but stretching into Leinster through Kilkenny into Leix and even (in 1659) as far as Co. Kildare. They first come into prominance as Hyland, in connexion with Carrick-on-Suir, beginning with Philip Hywlan, a burgess of the town in 1338, followed by other citizens in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In 1508 John Hilan was public notary in Waterford; in 1592 Father Maurice O'Hillane is described in a State Paper as "one of the chiefest maintainers" of Dr. Creagh, Bishop of Cork. A notable churchman of Irish birth was Dr. Hy O.P. (d. 1884), Archbishop of Port of Spain. The variant Helion is found in Offaly.

Surnames: B, C | D, E, F | I, J, K | L, M | O, P, S

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