De-Anglicisation of Names

[slohairt]

a branch of my family is called "green" which is traditionally an English name however they are all Pikeys, my uncle claims is from the word "Grain" which means "the sun" or a mispelling of "Greer" by a short sighted priest from "Mc Gregor"

any thoughts??

Dia Dhuit, Highlander _Daz,

There may be a grain of truth to that story. (Sorry, bad joke) "Grian" is, in fact, the Gaelic word for "sun." The genitive case is "Grèine" pronounced GRAIN-yA. How it could have been used as a surname, I'm not sure. Mac an Ghrèine ("son of the sun") seems an unlikely patronymic.

Sometimes the word was used in reference to Summer. Grianan of Aileach (in my home county of Donegal) means "Summer Home of Aileach." So, "son of summer" could be a possibility. I believe there is a Norse name Summerled which means just that.

Greer is, indeed, from Mac Grioghair. The "gh" was silent to some dialects.

[greenguzzi]

a branch of my family is called "green" which is traditionally an English name however they are all Pikeys, my uncle claims is from the word "Grain" which means "the sun" or a mispelling of "Greer" by a short sighted priest from "Mc Gregor"

Hi cousin!

My surname is "Green". Both of my parent's families hail from Ireland. I was told by my dad that the name "Green" was adopted when the family moved from Ireland to London to hide their Irish heritage so to avoid prejudice. Anyone heard that theory before?

[bjproc]

Hi cousin!

My surname is "Green". Both of my parent's families hail from Ireland. I was told by my dad that the name "Green" was adopted when the family moved from Ireland to London to hide their Irish heritage so to avoid prejudice. Anyone heard that theory before?

that may be true, as i've had a family member who left portree a mcnicol and dropped the Mc to just nicol to hopefully get some work

[highlander_Daz]

weve done the "Green" name before, we thought it may be from "Grain" meaning the sun

http://www.irishgen.com/surnames/det...surname_id=148


http://www.goireland.com/genealogy/f...m?FamilyId=186

[davedove]

Hi cousin!

My surname is "Green". Both of my parent's families hail from Ireland. I was told by my dad that the name "Green" was adopted when the family moved from Ireland to London to hide their Irish heritage so to avoid prejudice. Anyone heard that theory before?

That brings up an important point. Just because a name may have originated from a certain region, doesn't mean that is where your family got it. It was certainly not unknown for families to adopt a completely different name when they moved to a new place (for reasons good and bad). The name they chose could have come from anywhere.

[greenguzzi]

Yep, a good friend of mine had a good ancient Slavic surname, but changed it to a Scottish name because he was suffering prejudice. Weird huh?!

[slohairt]

Hi cousin!

My surname is "Green". Both of my parent's families hail from Ireland. I was told by my dad that the name "Green" was adopted when the family moved from Ireland to London to hide their Irish heritage so to avoid prejudice. Anyone heard that theory before?

The links Highlander Daz provided are as good as anything I could tell you! (In other words, I vouch for their accuracy!)

[Fletch75]

My last name is Wilt, which from what I've found is English meaning "little will". Somewhere along the line they moved to Germany. My Scottish name is Fletcher, in Gaelic its Mac Fleister. Irish side is MacGlathery or MacGladdery They are from Belfast. And O'leary. I don't remember where the O'leary's are from.

[Ozman1944]

Thank you Slohairt; "Ap Harri - son of Henry" Guess I have a Henry back there somewhere, eh?

[BEEDEE]

Slohairt - how about DODDS - border rievers on the English side (Tynedale) and then the Ulster Plantations.

Brian