Drag the timeline from the first hunter-gatherers of 8000 BC to the Ireland of today. Watch kingdoms rise, Vikings land, empires overreach and republics be declared — county by county. And everywhere, the unknown history: the stories the schoolbooks skipped.
Begin the journey ↓Adare — Áth Dara, ford of the oak. Decode any place name →
Tap any county for its story — its rulers through every age, and a fact you probably haven’t heard. Pre-modern boundaries are approximated onto today’s 32 counties so you can always find home.
Over 70 million people around the world call Ireland home. Type your surname — Murphy or Mitchell, O'Neill or Wilson, Walsh or Ward — and light up your people's homeland on the map.
205 names in the book so far, from Gaelic septs to Norman knights, Ulster Scots planters and Viking survivals — and growing. Can’t find yours? Many names have multiple spellings: try without the O’ or Mac.
This is a growing book, not a finished one. I built it in Sligo, I read every correction that comes in, and a good number of these pages exist because a stranger took the trouble to tell me I had it wrong. Suggest a surname, an Irish first name, a place, an event, or a feature you would like the site to have.
Suggest something →Diaz Xavier · Sligo · why I made this