A history of Irish settlers – and names – in 11 lines (read to the end to see the relevance of the picture above!):
- 10,000 BC – End of Ice Age – first settlers on island of Ireland arrive.
- Up until 500BC – Stone and Bronze ages – People like the “Fir Bolg” and the “Tuatha Dé Dannan” lived in Ireland
- Around 500BC – Arrival of the Celts – who intermarry with people on the island
- Around 400 AD – Introduction of Christianity – and historical record
- Around 800s – Arrival of the Vikings – who intermarry with the native Gaels. Start of the “surname system”
- 1100s Arrival of the Normans – and their surnames – who intermarry with the natives
- 1600s – Demise of the Gaelic chieftains – English take power and start of major “plantations” of settlers – who bring their surnames
- 1700s – 1800s – Migration of many Ulster Scots from Ulster to US – and their surnames
- Mid 1800s – Famine and emigration of many Catholic Irish to US, Canada, UK etc. – with their surnames
- 1920s – 1940s – Republic of Ireland established
- 1960 – the population of Ireland reaches it’s lowest point since 1841 – and the population starts to increase
And the relevance of the Picture? This is a picture in the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry – looking down on Ferriters Cove to the left. This is one of the places where the earliest human settlers established themselves in Ireland around 5000 BC – maybe one of YOUR relations!