Letter Archive
Welcome to the letter archive page for the weekly "Letter from Ireland". We started to write these letters in 2013 covering Irish Genealogy & Family History, Irish Surnames, Irish Culture & Customs and Ireland Travel, here you'll find a link to all of them.
Browse the letters listed on this page and jump to one that interests you, or enter a placename, surname or other item in the search box below to see related letters.
All of our weekly letters to date
Do you have an Irish Animal Surname in your family tree? The people of Ireland have long had a strong connection with the animals they share their island with. Part of being an agricultural community is living in harmony with the creatures you raise, and depend on for survival. This important relationship has seeped into the surnames of Ireland.
Do you know your given name in Irish? Many popular names have an Irish equivalent – names like Seán for John, Máire for Mary and so on. And then there are some slightly more challenging ones. Let’s have a look at some of these names today. More About Your Name in Irish. Not so long…
We had a very interesting reaction to last week’s letter where I went through just some of the old Gaelic family names and their links to certain professions such as Medic, Judge, Poet and so on. I asked you to let me know if you had any of these names in your family – and…
Some of the most popular letters we send out each Sunday are those of our own readers. In today’s letter, I would to share a wonderful story that Leslie Baldwin shared a few weeks back. Over to Leslie: “Good morning Mike! Thank you for all the lovely letters you send. I have learned so much…
Over the past weeks on this Letter, I’ve mentioned specific family surnames that were associated with old Celtic professions. Among the names mentioned we had “Ward” and “Shields”, both old Irish Bardic surnames in days gone by. These Bards underwent seven years of intensive training – and were in great demand from the Irish Chieftains…
We’re just back from a week in Dublin City – doing all the usual “touristy” things. However, we also got some great “behind the scenes” perspective and interviews in places like Trinity Library, The Book of Kells, Kilmainham Jail, the new Epic diaspora centre and Glasnevin cemetery (a lot more entertaining than you might expect).…
Carina and myself are just back from the city of San Sebastian in northern Spain – located in the middle of what is known as “Basque Country”. We travelled there as part of our traveling the “Irish Ancestral Trail” – tracking the places where the Irish originated, and the places where we ended up! It…
It’s been a very interesting week in this part of the world – the Easter 1916 Rising commemoration has been taking place right through the week, with some great events around the country. Although 100 years does seem like a long time, admittedly – more than a lifetime for most of us – it’s not…
We’re just back from a great trip to Tipperary. Yesterday was a typical Irish summers day – composed equally of squally showers, warm sunshine and more! The reason we headed to County Tipperary was to track down the stories and places around the ancestors of one of our Green Room members – Lorraine Hannan from…
There also seem to be a lot of commemorations over the past while – for example, we had the 1916 Irish Easter Rising centenary one year ago. That same year we had another commemoration – it was the centenary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme – the bloodiest battle of the…