Irish people

The Irish people (: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a European who originated in, in north western Europe. People of Irish ethnicity outside of Ireland are common in many countries, particularly in -speaking countries.

Descent

 * For an analysis of the genetics of the Irish and their origins see .

During the past 9,000 years of inhabitation, has witnessed many different peoples arrive on its shores. Legendary early arrivals included the, the , the , and the , though with the exception of the Firbolgs, they are now treated as deities rather than actual human incursions.

The ancient peoples of Ireland—such as the creators of the and —are almost unknown. Neither their language(s?) nor terms they used to describe themselves have survived. As late as the middle centuries of the  the inhabitants of Ireland did not appear to have a collective name for themselves. Ireland itself was known by a number of different names, including, , , by the islanders,  and  to the , and Ierne to the.

Likewise, the terms for people from Ireland—all from sources—in the late  were varied. They included, , and. This last word, derived from the gwyddel (meaning raiders), was eventually adopted by the Irish for themselves. However, as a term it is on a par with, as it describes an activity (raiding, piracy) and its proponents, not their actual ethnic affiliations.

The term Irish and Ireland is derived from the, a people who once lived in what is now central and south. Possibly their proximity to overseas trade with western, and  led to the name of this one people to be applied to the whole island and its inhabitants.

A variety of historical ethnic groups have inhabited the island, including the, , , , , , Mairtine, , and.

One legend states that the Irish were descended from (coined Milesius, from  "Miles Hispaniae", meaning "Soldier of "). The character is almost certainly a mere personification of a supposed migration by a group or groups from to Ireland, but it is supported by the fact that the  is more closely related to  than to any other. This legend is the source of the term "" in reference to the Irish. If this invasion was as large as the mythology would suggest, it would account for the genetic similarity of the Northern Iberian populations and the Irish.

It is thought that the Basque Country and neighbouring regions served as a refuge for palaeolithic humans during the last major glaciation when environments further north were too cold and dry for continuous habitation. When climate warmed into the present interglacial, populations would have rapidly spread north along the west European coast. Genetically, in terms of Y-chromosomes and Mt-DNA, inhabitants of Britain and Ireland are closely related to the Basques, reflecting their common origin in this refugial area. Basques, along with Irish, show the highest frequency of the Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup in ; some 95% of native Basque men have this haplogroup. The rest is mainly and a minimal presense of. The and  relationship between Basques and people of Ireland and Wales is of equal ratios than to neighbouring areas of Spain, where similar ethnically "Spanish" people now live in close proximity to the Basques, although this genetic relationship is also very strong among Basques and other Spaniards. In fact, as Stephen Oppenheimer has stated in The Origins of the British (2006), although Basques have been more isolated than other Iberians, they are a population representative of south western Europe. As to the genetic relationship among Basques, Iberians and Britons, he also states (pages 375 and 378):

By far the majority of male gene types in the derive from  (modern  and ), ranging from a low of 59% in Fakenham, Norfolk to highs of 96% in Llangefni, north Wales and 93% Castlerea, Ireland. On average only 30% of gene types in England derive from north-west Europe. Even without dating the earlier waves of north-west European immigration, this invalidates the Anglo-Saxon wipeout theory...

...75-95% of British and Irish (genetic) matches derive from Iberia...Ireland, coastal Wales, and central and west-coast Scotland are almost entirely made up from Iberian founders, while the rest of the non-English parts of the Britain and Ireland have similarly high rates. England has rather lower rates of Iberian types with marked heterogeneity, but no English sample has less than 58% of Iberian samples...

The founded many of the most important towns in Ireland, including  and  (earlier native settlements on these sites did not approach the urban nature of the subsequent Norse trading ports), and a hybrid Irish-Norse trading jargon developed called 'Gic-goc.' The arrival of the  brought, , Normans,  and , most of whom became d into  and polity by the , particularly the  who settled into the Pale area due to the close proximity of Ireland to Wales. The late era saw Scottish  families of mixed  descent settle, mainly in the north; due to similarities of language and culture they too were assimilated. The and in particular the  in the 17th century introduced great numbers of,  as well as  s as colonists. Despite these divergent backgrounds most of their descendants consider themselves Irish—even where they are aware of such ancestry—mainly due to their lengthy presence in Ireland.

Historically, religion, politics and ethnicity became intertwined in Ireland, with generally identifying as British and Irish and most  as exclusively Irish. This is less true today, although connections between and  can still be observed - especially in. Four polls taken between 1989 and 1994 revealed that when asked to state their national identity, over 79% of Northern Ireland Protestants replied "British" or "Ulster" with 3% or less replying "Irish", while over 60% of Northern Ireland Catholics replied "Irish" with 13% or less replying "British" or "Ulster". A survey in 1999 showed that 72% of Northern Ireland Protestants considered themselves "British" and 2% "Irish", with 68% of Northern Ireland Catholics considering themselves "Irish" and 9% "British". 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".

Surnames

 * See also: s

It is common for some Irish surnames to be, meaning that they were changed to sound more. This usually occurred with Irish immigrants arriving in the during the 19th century and the early 20th century, and when British settlers arrived in Ireland.

It is also very common for people of origin to have surnames beginning with " Ó" or "" (less frequently "Mac" and occasionally shortened to just "Ma" at the beginning of the name). "O" was originally Ó which in turn came from Ua (originally hUa), which means "", or "" of a named person. For example, the descendants of  were known as the Ua Brian  clan. The prefix is most commonly written as O’. Kimberly Powell explains that "[the] apostrophe that usually follows the O ... comes from a misunderstanding by English-speaking clerks in Elizabethan time, who interpreted it as a form of the word of."

"Mac" or "Mc" means "son of"; many names also begin with this. There is no basis in fact for the claim that Mac is Scottish and Mc is Irish: Mc is simply an abbreviation of Mac. However, while both Mac and Ó prefixes are Gaelic in origin, Mc is more common in and Ó is far less common in Scotland than it is in Ireland. Some common surnames that begin with Ó are: Ó Ceallaigh, Ó Gallchobhair (O'), Ó Raghallaigh (O'Reilly), Ó Laoidheach (Lee), Ó Néill (O'Neill), Ó Briain (O'Brien), Ó Conchúir (O'Connor), , Ó Laoire (O'Leary), Ó Seachnasaigh (O'Shaughnessy),Ó Greaney (O'Greaney), Ó Dónaill (O'Donnell), Ó Dubhda (O'Dowd), Ó Tuathail (O'Toole), Ó Meadhra(O'Meara), Ó Mealaigh (O'Malley), Ó hEadhra (O'Hara), Ó Bradaigh (O'Brady), and Ó Seanacháin (O'Shanahan). Some names that begin with Mac are: Mac Diarmada, Mac Cárthaigh (MacCarthy), Mac Donnachadha (MacDonough), Mac Dómhnaill (MacDonnell), McElligott, Mac Coileáin , Mac Aonghusa (MacGuinness, Magennis), Mac Lochlainn (MacLaughlin), Mac Uidhir (MacGuire), Mac Mathúna (MacMahon) Mac Gadhra (McGeary) and Mac Cormaic (MacCormack). However, the two are not exclusive, so, for example, MacCarthy and McCarthy are both used.

There are a number of Irish surnames derived from Norse personal names, including Sweeney from Swein and Mc Auliffe from Olaf. The name Cotter, local to Cork, derives from the Norse personal name Ottir. Though these names were of Viking derivation most of the families who bear them appear to have had native origins.

"Fitz" is a corruption of the phrase fils de, used by the Normans, meaning son of. The were ultimately descendents of  who settled in  and had thoroughly adopted French ways and language.

A few names that begin with Fitz are: FitzGerald (Mac Gearailt), FitzSimons (Mac Síomóin), FitzGibbons (Mac Giobúin), (Mac Giolla Phádraig) and FitzHenry (Mac Anraí), most of whom descend from the initial Norman settlers. Exceptions occur in a small number of Irish families of origin who came to use a Norman form of their original  surname - witness Mac Giolla Phádraig becoming FitzPatrick - while some assimilated so well that the Gaelic name was dropped in favor of a new, Hiberno-Norman form. Cases in this category include Mac Gilla Mo-Cholomoc of becoming FitzDermot (after Dermot or Diarmaid Mac Gilla Mo-Cholomoc).Although Fitzpatrick is the only surname beginning with "Fitz" that is of Native Gaelic origin.

Other Norman families derived their name from places or people in Ireland. This was the case of the family of Athy (see ) who took their surname, de Athy, from the town of that name in Leinster. More common, however, was that the Normans became and in this process the Fitzmaurices became Mac Muiris, the Fitzsimons became Mac Síomóin and Mac an Ridire, Fitzgerald became Mac Gearailt, Bermingham became Mac Fheorais, Nangle became Mac Coisdealbha, Staunton became Mac an Mhíleadha, and so forth.

In the late and , , ,  and  peoples arrived in Ireland at the request of , , and took over parts of the island. During the next three hundred years, they intermarried with ruling, adopted Irish culture and the and as the English put it "became ". Another common Irish surname of origin is the 'de' habitational prefix, meaning 'of the' and originally signifying prestige and land ownership. Many Irish surnames share this: de Búrca (Burke),, , , , de Faoite(White), (Power), and so forth.

It should be emphasised, especially with Gaelic surnames, there may be two or more unrelated families bearing the same or similar surnames. For example, there were at least nine separate Ó Ceallaigh s, all unrelated. The Mac Lochlainn, Ó Mael Sechlainn, Ó Mael Sechnaill, Ó Conchobair Mac Loughlin and Mac Diarmata Mac Loughlin families, all distinct, are now all subsumed together as MacLoughlin. The full surname usually indicated which family was in question, something that has being diminished with the loss of prefixes such as Ó and Mac. In addition, in when a Mac surname was followed by a name which began with a vowel, the Mac became Mag. This explains why one will still see the older spelling of Mac Aonghusa (McGuinness) as Mag Aonghusa, Mac Uidhir (Maguire) as Mag Uidhir, and so forth.

Furthermore, 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 immigration to Scotland in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. Also Scottish surnames are noticeable in some Catholics in Ireland, particularly in Ulster, due to intermarriage and pre-Reformation immigration.

Personal names (forenames)
Some personal names in modern Ireland are derived from traditional Irish Names, and Irish names, although English names remain popular.

The recent years have seen a major decline in most Irish names for babies being born in the. While in the past names such as Patrick (a name of origin), Séamus (the Irish form of James) and others were almost ubiquitous in any family, today they are among the rarer names for children and the same goes for most other Irish names, although there are a few notable exceptions. Conor remains very popular, having topped the Most Popular new names for babies list many years running. The name Jack, which is an Irish diminutive of John, James and Jacob, has grown in popularity. , also derived from the root John, remains one of the most popular Irish names. Male names from North America have become more popular in recent times. There are many other Anglicised Irish names which remain popular, such as Ryan, Neil and others remaining on the Names List. names also form a large composition, such as Matthew, Philip and Paul.

Aside from Seán other male names from the tradition include Gearóid (Gerard), Piaras (Peirce), Éamonn (Edward), Liam (William) and indeed the very use of the name Pádraig (Patrick) is a Norman tradition. Prior to the Normans the, out of reverence to Saint Patrick, named their children Giolla Phádraig, the servant of Patrick. is an interesting example of how both Norman and English traditions collided. Piaras is from the Piers which itself is derived from the Latin, Petrus. Peirce/Piers was a common name in late medieval and early modern Ireland. However, with the expansion of British rule the English name Peter, which shares the same Latin root, began to replace it. Today, the Irish version (Peadar) of the English name (Peter), tends to be more common than the Irish version (Piaras) of the older Norman name (Piers). Thus, families with surnames where Piaras has been a traditional name have broken the link to their historic tradition. An exception to this would be in the where, for example, Piaras would still be very common, especially in the  area of  due to the legacy of, where Piaras remains a very common name in the Feiritéar family. The maintenance of such traditions in personal names outside the would generally be a sign of more educated parents. In an analogous way to Piaras, Irish families of  descent sometimes use the Irish version (Séarlas) of the English name, Charles, rather than the names with a much longer vintage in their families, such as An Calvach and Cathal. Where Cathal is used it is often wrongly termed "the Irish for Charles" in a similar way to which the ancient Irish personal name, Áine, is wrongly said to be an Irish version of the English word, Anne. Rather, both and  are two very ancient Irish names with no etymological link whatsoever to the above English names.

For females, the traditional Irish names are far more popular, although their spellings are not always uniform. Names such as Mary, Ann, and Eileen which were hugely common in the past have now declined, although there was always much more variety in female names than in male. Today Aoife, Aisling, Ciara, Sinéad, and Órla are more popular as traditional Irish names, while foreign names such as Ella, Emma, Lisa, Rachel and Isabelle have become more common. Some older names have maintained their popularity, such as Sarah, Kate, Catherine and Louise. Female names from the tradition are widespread and among the most traditional of Irish personal names. In a similar way to the name Pádraig (Patrick), in the pre-Norman tradition Máire did not exist but rather Maol Muire, devotee of the virgin Mary, was the normal Irish usage. Other common Irish female names of origin (with their anglicised form) are Caitríona (Catherine, Katrina), Síle (Sheila), Caitlín (Kathleen), Cáit (Kate), Sinéad (Jane, Janet etc) and Siobhán (Joan, Jane etc) But also, Siobhán can be spelt Siubhán, which, translated into English, can mean Hannah, but Siubhán can be translated into English as Joan, or Jane, alongside Siobhán. ʡ English names such as Victoria, Elizabeth, and Rebecca, while never hugely popular have also seen a decline in popularity, while some Irish names such as Bridget, Una and Maureen have dropped off the list altogether.

There can be major differentiations between regions. A personal name can still often indicate where a person, more precisely a man, is from. This is accounted for chiefly in the sainthood cults which have been traditional throughout the island. For instance, is  more common in Cork,  in Meath and,  in Kerry, and so forth, where these particular saints are institutionalised in local tradition. Seaghan remains the spelling of, though Séan, with the fada over the E, is also common. Páidí is more common in the than elsewhere, and so forth. is the patron saint of and the name is thus quite common in that region. As in the Feiritéar family above, the first name can also often indicate a family tradition as well as place.

See

Recent history
In the Republic of Ireland about 86.82% of the population are Roman Catholic. In about 53.1% of the population are  (21.1% Presbyterian, 15.5% Church of Ireland, 3.6% Methodist, 6.1% Other Christian) whilst a large minority are  at approximately 43.8%, as of 2001.

After Ireland became subdued by England in 1603 the English – under (reigned 1603 – 1625) who was also James VI of Scotland (1566 – 1625),,  (term 1653 – 1658),  who was also William II of Scotland (reigned 1689 – 1702) and their successors – began the settling of  in  (the ), and later Protestant English and Scottish s into Ireland, where they settled most heavily in the northern  of. However, while there is evidence (linguistic, surname, and genetic) that the English in the earlier settlements in Leinster, especially those in the lower classes who never really gave up Catholicism, disappeared into the broader Irish population, the staunchly Scots in Ulster did not intermarry heavily or  with the native Irish like the Normans did centuries earlier.

Tens of thousands of native Irish were displaced during the 17th century Plantations of Ireland from parts of, and were replaced by English and Scottish planters. Only in the major part of Ulster did the plantations prove long-lived; the other three provinces (,, and ) remained heavily Catholic, and eventually, the Protestant populations of those three provinces would decrease drastically as a result of the political developments in the early 20th century in.

It is predominately religion, history and political differences ( versus British ) that divide the two communities, as many of the settlers are in part of ic origin themselves and therefore related to their Irish Catholic neighbours.

Conversely, some Irish people would have at least some degree of English or Scottish ( families from the Highlands) ancestry.

In 1921, with the formation of the, six counties in the northeast remained in the as.

"Ulster-Irish" surnames tend to differ based on which community families originate from. Ulster Protestants tend to have either or  surnames while Catholics tend to have Irish surnames, although this is not always the case. There are many Catholics in Northern Ireland with surnames such as Emerson, Whitson, Livingstone, Hardy, Tennyson, MacDonald (however this surname is also common with Highland Roman Catholics in Scotland), Dunbar, Groves, Legge, Scott, Gray, Page, Stewart, Rowntree, Henderson, et al; almost certainly due to intermarriage. According to, conversions also occurred to a lesser extent, which were mostly class-based; Catholics sometimes become Protestant to keep their lands and titles or to gain advantages, while some Protestants who were from the lower classes or who had fallen on hard times would become Catholic.

Irish diaspora
The Irish diaspora consists of  and their descendants in  such as the, , , , ,  and nations of the  such as. These countries, known as the, all have large minorities of Irish descent, who in addition form the core of the Catholic Church in those countries. The contains over 80 million people; it is believed that roughly one third of the  had at least some Irish descent, while  (whose Irish born grandfather Daniel had left Britain to escape Catholic persecution) was the sole  signatory of the. 

There are also large communities in some mainland an countries, notably in  and, as well as ,  and.

Irish in the number around 45 million. They are the second largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States, after s. It's also one of the largest self-reported ethnic group in Canada, Irish Canadians number around 3 million. Also, large numbers of Irish people emigrated to in the 18th and 19th centuries. Irish-Argentinians number over 500,000. Some famous Argentinians of Irish descendent include, ex-president and national hero.

One important Irish group in the history of the Americas are the "Patricios", or, a group of European Catholic immigrants, mostly Irish, who left the American side during the Mexican-American War and joined the Mexican Army. Although many of them were caught and executed by the American government, some escaped and remained in Mexico. The battalion is commemorated in Mexico on Saint Patricks's day and on, the anniversary of the first executions.

Notable Irish people

 * , of, died
 * - King of and, killed
 * - and
 * , King of, -
 * -, fl. 8th/9th century
 * , King of Mide and High King; c.-
 * , philosopher, died
 * - King of Leinster, died 446.
 * ,, died
 * - Irish king and, died c./
 * ,, died c.
 * - Irish since
 * - Artist, -
 * -, played -
 * - statesman and soldier, died
 * - presenter of the Late Late Show (-)
 * - Member of the
 * - and founder of the, died
 * - country's second most successful musical act, born
 * -, born
 * - and
 * -, and , born
 * -, co-founder of , died
 * -, murdered
 * - and founder of the  dynasty
 * - and
 * - designer of the
 * - humanitarian, kidnapped and murdered in
 * -, , born 1937
 * , fantasy/science fiction writer, born
 * - and political activist, killed in action
 * -, born
 * - and, died
 * - since
 * - and, murdered
 * - King of, died
 * , political activist, born
 * -, born
 * - comedian, actor and writer
 * - champion
 * -, born
 * ,, died c.
 * , Senator and Civil Rights Activist, born
 * - TV personality and actor
 * - senior diplomat
 * - Irish and, -
 * - and Irish
 * - captain of the  team
 * - Irish chieftain and, c.-c.
 * - and
 * - Footballer and Manager
 * - founder of, -
 * - and founder of
 * - Olympic athlethe, born
 * - Eight-time nominee
 * - seventh Irish president, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
 * -, died
 * - Football Manager
 * - and author of, died
 * -, died
 * -, , , died
 * - Poet, died
 * - founder of, -
 * - and founder of
 * - Olympic athlethe, born
 * - Eight-time nominee
 * - seventh Irish president, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
 * -, died
 * - Football Manager
 * - and author of, died
 * -, died
 * -, , , died
 * - Poet, died
 * - Poet, died