More Fun With Irish Surnames...and Maps

Piggybacking on last month's post Fun with Irish Surnames, I found this cool tool—Irish Surname Maps for the 1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland—developed by Barry Griffin, shared on Facebook. 

 

Irish censuses taken in 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 were destroyed in a 1922 fire at the Public Record Office at the beginning of the Civil War, while 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses were destroyed by the government.¹ So the 1901 and 1911 censuses are the earliest available. While enumerated some 50-60 years after my Irish ancestors reached American shores, it is likely that their collateral relatives were amongst those enumerated in these censuses.

Here’s where individuals with the Gilbride surname were living in 1901.² They primarily were located in the northwestern part of Ireland in the Province of Connaght, in counties Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Longford, and Cavan, as well as Donegal and Fermanagh in Ulster province.

Interestingly, when I look at my DNA ethnicity estimates, the Irish DNA component has consistently shown originating in these general areas in the Province of Connaght, with areas in North Connacht, North Mayo or South Mayo most likely where my ancestors lived. I can imagine that in the intervening fifty years between our Gilbrides leaving Ireland in 1850 and the 1901 census, those who stayed may have migrated away from the devastated west coast which bore the brunt of the Famine.

Ancestry's estimate of where my Irish DNA originated from, centered in the Province of Connacht:³

My Irish ethnicity estimate on 23andMe's shows my DNA was most likely found in the darkest shaded areas of County Mayo and County Cork:⁴

Here's a map of where the McAndrew surname individuals were found in 1901, very heavily concentrated in Mayo:⁵

I have a few genealogical clues that our Gilbrides and McAndrews were from Mayo, so it is heartening that my DNA trail aligns with that.

By contrast, though I have one clue that my ancestor Catherine Ryan Gilbride was from Mayo, the Ryan surname distribution map would be a little less useful in determining her likely origins.⁶ Here the distribution is most heavily concentrated in Tipperary and Limerick, though there is overlap in the Mayo, Sligo, and Leitrim as well.

Given it was the #2 surname in 1901, it is not surprising to see the distribution of the Kelly surname, though it too is widespread in Mayo:⁷

To view your Irish surname distribution map, click here. Mr. Griffin also developed a Scottish surname map, which can be viewed here.

Until next time...

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NOTES

¹ John Grenham, "Irish Census Records," Irish Ancestors (https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/retrieve_text.php : accessed 6 January 2023).
² Barry Griffin, Irish Surname Maps for the 1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland (www.barrygriffin.com/surname-maps/irish : accessed 5 February 2023), surname Gilbride 1901. All map images used with permission.
³ "Ethnicity Estimate," database report for Nancy Casey, AncestryDNA (https://www.ancestry.com/dna/origins/D71DE6F3-5014-45AB-BEAD-3521D44F9F5C/details : accessed 5 February 2023), 46% Ireland, "Connacht, Ireland" Community.
⁴ "Ancestry Composition" database report for Nancy Casey, 23andMe.com (https://you.23andme.com/reports/ancestry_composition_hd/ : accessed 5 February 2023), 51.1% British & Irish, high likely match with County Mayo and County Cork.
⁵ Barry Griffin, Irish Surname Maps for the 1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland (www.barrygriffin.com/surname-maps/irish : accessed 5 February 2023), surname Mc Andrew 1901.
⁶ Ibid, surname Ryan 1901.
⁷ Ibid, surname Kelly 1901.