Walsh (surname)

Walsh (Irish: Breathnach) is a common Irish surname, meaning "Briton" or "foreigner" (literally "Welshman" or "Wales"), taken to Ireland by soldiers from Britain, namely Welsh, Cambro-Norman, Cornish and Cumbrian soldiers during and after the Norman invasion of Ireland. It is the fourth most common surname in Ireland,[1] and the 265th most common in the United States. There are variants including "Walshe", “Welch”, "Welsh", and "Brannagh" (an anglicisation of the Irish form). Walsh is uncommon as a given name. The name is often pronounced "Welsh" in the south and west of the country.[2] In Great Britain, Guppy encountered the name only in Lancashire.[1] It is the surname of the Barons Ormathwaite.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Cottle, Basil (1978). The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 405.
  2. ^ MalcLysaght, Edward (1985). The Surnames of Ireland (fourth ed.). Dublin: Irish Academic Press. p. 296. ISBN 0716523647.