County Kildare

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Have You Heard Your Name in an Irish Accent?

Did you realise the difference a local Irish accent can make to the spelling of your surname? One of the harder parts of tracing the origins of your surname in Ireland are the different regional variations that it may have. In this letter, we will use one surname as an example of the way in which a name can evolve to have different spellings and pronunciations, but the same history.

Shackleton and St. Brendan – Irish Explorers who Took on The World (#112)

Welcome to Season 1, Episode 12 of the Letter from Ireland Show. In this episode, Carina looks at two stories of Irish explorers who took on the world. They were born centuries apart, but that spirit of adventure comes through in both of these letters.

Ernest Shackleton and the Irish Antarctic Connection.

Carina and myself were settling down in front of the TV last night – and up came the story of one Ernest Shackleton, in this case played by Kenneth Branagh. About 30 minutes into the movie, we are introduced to the Irishman who accompanied Shackleton on his South Pole voyage in 1914 – one Tom…

Which Irish County Holds Your Irish Roots?

Which County in Ireland holds your Irish Roots? Everytime someone joins our “Letter from Ireland”, we ask the question: “Which County in Ireland did your Ancestors come from?” So far, we have had thousands of replies – and have built a list of 6470 entries. In the map above I have shown the distribution of…

The Tribes of Ireland – Ireland at the Birth of Your Irish Surname.

Do you have an Irish surname in your family tree? In this Letter from Ireland we look at the Tribes of Ireland in 1150. Join us as we take a tour off the kingdoms at this time and the surnames associated with them.