Carragher - the name and links

 

174,572nd

Most Common

surname in the World according to forebears . Less than 2500 people worldwide have this surname.

one of the first resources I found online re. Carragher, was of a Carragher who is trying to document more about the name. Though I can't find a genetic genealogical match, he has been the only person I have found online that is making any real, concerted effort to compile info about the name. 

He also created a profile in the name study of Carragher

Could it lead to my ancestors?  Possibly...the name is relatively rare, even with its variants. Were it a common name, the answer would be a definitive no. But one of the things I have found in family research is to look for the less common names, that maybe, just maybe, a bit of luck may come into play. So far, this hasn't quite manifested, but I am in contact with a DNA cousin with this name.

from surname db:

"Recorded in a number of spellings including (Mac) Caraher, (Mac) Carragher, Carah, Carrah, etc. but more usually without the 'Mac' or 'Mc' prefix, this is an Irish surname, but one which is closedly associated with the Scottish MacFearchair, the modern Farquar. It is claimed that the clan did originate in Scotland and probably before the 12th century a.d., but this seems impossible to verify. However nameholders are mostly to be found in the border area of Counties Armagh and Louth, between Ulster and Leinster provinces, a region of strong Scottish influence in the past, so this seems logical. The name literally translates as 'dear man', and this was a reference to the first chieftain who was given either to good works, or who may have been a follower of a 'holy man'. Many Gaelic clans descend from chiefs who were known by their often very descriptive 'nicknames', and this is one of the less 'robust' examples. According to the famous Irish biographer and etymologist MacLysart, the name as MacCarehir is first recorded at Dysart, County Louth, in 1616, during the reign of King James 1st (1587 - 1625), and outside the Plantation area of Ulster. This is a way of his suggesting that the name is not of Scottish influence. As MacCarraher it is recorded in the Hearth Tax Rolls of King Charles 11nd in 1663, whilst in the modern forms it is recorded in the Famine Registers of 1846 - 1848. An example being Mary Carah, one of the very first emigrants, who aged only fifteen and given as being 'a servant girl', left on the ship John R Skiddy of Liverpool, on March 16th 1846, bound for New York, USA."

and the John Grenham link

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less common names - Carragher, Caragher, Carraher, Caraher

 

in working on my own family tree for the past two decades, I have often clung to less common names (first, middle, last), to try and make breakthroughs.

Family research, especially for those of us who contend with limited documents (as is the case with the Irish experience in Ireland), means often flip flopping along different sides of the ocean, to seemingly unrelated families, with the hopes of possibly finding connections, or more information about the names. This warrants a few posts.

Carragher.

This name is either the one of my 2x, or 3x great grandmother and probably has caused me the most frustration of all. I can't correctly document my 2x great grandmother....this isn't that far back really, 1850s, but the cusp of official registration in Ireland, a seeming marriage of Catholic and Protestant, misspellings  - Kellar in one of the death certificates of one of my 2x ggmother's children in Scotland. I feel Carragher was most likely her mother's name, that she was the more common (and frustrating to search) O'Brien.

But here we are.

My Carraghers hail from the Crossmaglen and environs area of Armagh, Northern Ireland. Could they have also been from Louth or Navan? Possibly.

There were branches of Carraghers who went to the US and changed their name to Callaghan (likely the customs officer changed it?). More than one of these former Carraghers are genetic genealogical matches (weak but there).

There were branches that went to Canada, I have yet to find genetic connections here, but worth spending more time here.

And there are those that remain in Northern Ireland, in the places known to have at least some connection to my Carraghers - Cappagh, Crossmaglen, Lisseraw (Liseragh, Lissera). These places have links to the Troubles.

They were primarily RC, though it looks like my ancestor married a protestant.

How easy it is for names to be lost - Carragher to Kellar on a child's death record....

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the name game continues - Irish prefixes

 

I feel like I have read through an endless number of books with names in Irish vs. English, which occasions may favour one over the other, and equally, the name variations.

Truly, it is easy to become overwhelmed as a family historian.

I did find an article online that provides a succinct explanation of much of this, and saving it to this post, so I don't lose it (yes, I keep hundreds of bookmarks, folders filled with pictures and documents, genealogy notebooks, notes on historical periods...so much research).

Linking to it here, should it be of help to others as well.

A snippet to give you an idea of the contents...

Ireland is a bilingual nation and one of the earliest countries to evolve a system of hereditary surnames. ‘Mac’s and ‘O’s abound, but ‘Fitz’s and other prefixes as well. Surnames vary for men and women bearing the same family name; the prefix changes to Mhic, Nic, Uí or Ní. Further complications are created by transliteration and translation from Irish to English. Róisín Nic Cóil explores the problems this presents for alphabetization and some possible solutions.

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Irish names - the 100 most common surnames at the end of the 19th Century

 

Whenever I am looking for Murphy, and O'Brien ancestors in particular, I am reminded that it isn't always easy, given the common-ness of those names. Thought this would be a fun share...

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