Irish surnames starting with G

The G names in brief

• Gallagher · Ó Gallchobhair · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Gallchobhar, 'foreign help'. Gallchobhar is foreign help, and the family traced their descent from Maolchobha, a 7th-century king of Ireland. They were marshals of O'Donnell's forces, and Woulfe has them taking a prominent part in every military movement of Cinel Conaill from the 14th century onward; a great many of them were Bishops of Raphoe and Derry besides.
• Galvin · Ó Gealbháin · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Gealbhán, 'bright-white'. A Clare sept that drifted south into Kerry, where the 'bright' name settled among the mountains — and later rang out from every GAA pitch in the kingdom.
• Garvey · Ó Gairbhith · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Gairbhith, 'rough peace'. Chiefs in ancient Oriel with a name that translates, wonderfully, as 'rough peace' — the exact weather of the borderlands they held.
• Geoghegan · Mag Eochagáin · Gaelic sept
  Son of Eochagán, from Eochaidh — a name built on each, 'horse'. Chiefs of Cineál Fhiachach in Westmeath, and among the last Gaelic families of the midlands to hold their lands. Usually pronounced simply GAY-gan.
• Gill · Mac an Ghoill · Norse-Gaelic
  Son of the foreigner. 'Son of the stranger' — a name given to the child of some forgotten Norseman, Scot or Norman who stayed. Half of Irish history is in that single quiet word: they stayed.
• Gorman · Mac Gormáin · Gaelic sept
  Son of Gormán, 'the noble dark one'. Lords of Slievemargy in Laois until the Normans came, when the sept split for Clare and Monaghan. Under the penal laws the Chevalier Thomas O'Gorman recruited for France's Irish Brigade — and traded wine on the side.
• Grace · Grás · Norman
  Le gras — 'the stout'. Descendants of Raymond le Gros himself; the Grace's Country of Kilkenny bred crusaders, sheriffs and W.R. Grace — famine emigrant, twice Mayor of New York, founder of a global shipping line.
• Graham · — · Ulster Scots (Border)
  From Grantham — 'grey home'. A great Border reiver clan, so troublesome that King James deported whole branches to Fermanagh in 1606 — Ulster's plantation absorbed the wildest riders of the Anglo-Scottish frontier.
• Griffin · Ó Gríobhtha · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Gríobhtha, 'griffin-like'. A Dál gCais sept of Ballygriffy in Clare, spread through Munster. The griffin (half eagle, half lion) suits a name that is half myth, half muscle.

Also spelled with G

These are listed on the atlas under another spelling, but the G form is the one many families carry.