“An act, that the Irish men dwelling in the counties of Dublin, Myeth, Uriell, and Kildare, shall goe apparelled like English men, and weare theire beards after the English maner, sweare allegeance, and take English surname.”--_Rot. Parl. ca. 16._ “At the request of the Commons it is ordeyned and established by authority of the said parliament, that every Irish man that dwells betwixt or amongst Englishmen in the county of Dublin, Myeth, Uriell, and Kildare, shall goe like to one Englishman in apparell, and shaveing off his beard above the mouth, and shal be within one yeare sworne the liege man of the king in the hands of the lieutenant or deputy, or such as he will assigne to receive this oath for the multitude that is to be sworne, and shall take to him an English surname of one towne, as Sutton, Chester, Trym, Skryne, Corke, Kinsale; or colour, as white, blacke, browne; or arte or science, as smith or carpenter; or office, as cooke, butler; and that he and his issue shall use this name under payne of forfeyting of his goods yearely till the premises be done, to be levied two times by the yeare to the king’s warres, according to the discretion of the lieutenant of the king or his deputy.”--5 _Edward_ IV. cap. 3. “In obedience to this law,” observes Harris, in his additions to Ware, “the Shanachs took the name of Foxes, the Mac Gabhans of Smiths, Geals of Whites, the Branachs of Walshes, and many others; the said words being only literal translations from the Irish into the English language.” Harris, however, I may remark, is very much mistaken when he supposes that the Branachs (Breaṫnaiġ, _i. e._ _Britones_) of the English pale in Ireland are an Irish family, or that any ancient Irish family had borne that name before the Anglo-Norman and Welsh families settled in Ireland towards the latter end of the twelfth century; and he is also wrong in assuming that the Irish word for _Geal_, white, was by itself ever used as the name of any family in Ireland. In the other two instances he is correct; for the head of the O’Caharnys of Teffia, who was usually styled the Shinnagh, translated his name into Fox, and the Mac-an-Gowans and O’Gowans translated their name into Smith.