Celebrate Your Irish Heritage

Hi, we're Mike and Carina. We travel Ireland and the Irish ancestral trails of the world, connect with people of Irish descent and share the resulting stories, photos, videos and podcasts with you.

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Recent Articles

Irish hounds

Irish Hounds and Irish Surnames

Have you ever had difficulty figuring out the meaning of those Irish surnames in your family tree? Where on earth did those “Os” and “Macs” come from? How could “English” be an Irish surname? These are varieties of the many questions we receive on a weekly basis. Just this week, I was chatting with one…

wutheringheights - From County Down to the Wuthering Heights of Yorkshire

From County Down to the Wuthering Heights of Yorkshire

I hope all is well with you and the days are passing you by in good health. This is the part of the letter where I normally comment on the weather here in Ireland, but sure – while it’s true the weather is challenging, there is a welcome lengthening in the days. A welcome return…

A letter from Ireland podcast

A Letter from Australia to Ireland

One of our readers – Jennifer Connolly – wrote to us from Melbourne in Australia early last year and we decided to write a number of replies to her questions in the form of a letter. I think it illustrates the shared themes that we notice from all of our readers from Australia – maybe you…

pride prejudice - Pride and Prejudice and Three Irish Surnames

Pride and Prejudice and Three Irish Surnames

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever considered the difference between the male and female of our species? I guess that the main differences, beyond the obvious, range across a wide variety of subtleties. Take myself and Carina, for example. We were both exposed to the prose of Jane Austen in school, through…

Potato Blight - Daniel McDonald - Painting Ireland During the Famine

Daniel McDonald – Painting Ireland During the Famine

This week, we’re going to have a look at one particular name that is found all over Ireland and Scotland – perhaps you have it in your family? Seeing as we now have so many readers from all over the world, today’s choice of word and name seems very appropriate. You see, the Irish word…