Irish name

A formal Irish Gaelic name consists of a given name and a surname, as in English. Surnames in Irish are generally patronymic in etymology, although they are no longer literal patronyms, as is the case in Icelandic. The form of a surname varies according to whether its bearer is male or female, and in the case of a married woman, whether she chooses to adopt her husband's surname.

Surnames and prefixes

A man's surname generally takes the form Ó (originally "grandson") or Mac ("son") followed by the genitive case of a name, as in Ó Dónaill ("grandson of Dónall") or Mac Gearailt ("son of Gerald"). A son has the same surname as his father. A daughter'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. Thus the daughter of a man named Ó Dónaill has the surname Ní Dhónaill and the daughter of a man named Mac Gearailt has the surname Nic Ghearailt.

Related Topics:
Genitive case - Lenition

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If a woman marries, she may choose to take her husband's surname. In this case, Ó is replaced by Bean Uí ("wife of the grandson of") and Mac by Bean Mhic ("wife of the son of"). In both cases bean may be omitted, in which case the woman uses simply Uí or Mhic. Again, the second part of the surname is lenited. Thus a woman marrying a man named Ó Dónaill may choose to be use Bean Uí Dhónaill or Uí Dhónaill as her surname; a woman marrying a man named Mac Gearailt may choose to use Bean Mhic Ghearailt or Mhic Ghearailt.

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If the second part of the surname begins with a vowel, the form Ó attaches an h to it, as in Ó hUiginn. The other forms effect no change: Ní Uiginn, (Bean) Uí Uiginn; Mac Aodha, Nic Aodha, Mhic Aodha, and so forth.

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Mag is often used instead of Mac before a vowel or the silent fh. Ua is an alternative form of Ó.

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