The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 51, June 19, 1841Various
History
The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 51, June 19, 1841
Various
Ireland -- Periodicals
In my last article I gave examples of the process now in progress in
the several provinces of Ireland among the people generally in changing
their original names into names apparently English or Scottish: there
are others in Ireland among the genteeler classes who have changed
their old Milesian names in such a manner as to give them a French or
Spanish appearance; and the adopters of these names _now_ wish to be
deemed as of French or Spanish origin (any thing but Irish!) These,
it is true, are few in number, but some of them are respectable; and
their effort at concealing their origin is not to be recommended. We
shall therefore exhibit a few instances of this mode of rendering Irish
names _respectable-looking_ by giving them a foreign aspect, which the
bearers cannot by any effort give their own faces. The most remarkable
of these changes has been made by the family of O’Dorcy, in the west of
the county of Galway, who have assumed not only the name of D’Arcy, but
also the arms of the D’Arcys of England. But it is well known that the
D’Arcys of Galway are all descended from James Reagh Darcy, of Galway,
merchant, whose pedigree I know to be traced by Duald Mac Firbis, not to
the D’Arcys of Meath, who are of Anglo-Norman origin, but to the Milesian
O’Dorcys of West Connaught, who were the ancient chiefs of Partree, a
well-known territory extending from the lakes of Lough Mask and Lough
Carra, westwards, in the direction of Croaghpatrick.
The next instance of this kind of change which I shall adduce, is found
in the adjacent county of Mayo, where a gentleman of the ancient and
celebrated family of O’Malley wishes all his friends to call him not
O’Malley, for that is Irish, but De Maillet; but though his friends
condescend sometimes to call him by this name, they can scarcely refrain
from laughter while pronouncing it, for they know very well that he
descends from Owen O’Malley, the father of the famous heroine Grania
Wael, and chief of Umallia or the Owles, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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