Irish surnames starting with S

The S names in brief

• Savage · Sábhaois · Norman
  Le sauvage — 'the wild one'. Norman: le Sauvage, the savage, one of wild or fierce character. The family were planted in the Ards of County Down by John de Courcy in 1177, are often mentioned in the Irish annals, and kept considerable property there until 1689.
• Scanlon · Ó Scannláin · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Scannlán — from scannal, 'contention' or 'strife'. Three distinct septs of the name, the oldest the Ó Scannail of west Munster, anglicised Scannell. Others were seated in Sligo and in east Clare.
• Scully · Ó Scolaidhe · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of the scholar. Ó Scolaidhe, from Scolaidhe, a crier. The family were chiefs of West Delvin in Westmeath until they were scattered early in the 12th century, when they became erenaghs of St Ruadhan's church at Lorrha in Tipperary.
• Seery · Ó Saoraidhe · Gaelic sept (from a Norse personal name)
  A later form of Ó Síoghradha, descendant of Síoghraidh, the Norse Sigefrith. Ó Saoraidhe replaced the old Westmeath and Tirconnell surname Ó Síoghradha, Woulfe writes, and that name came from Síoghraidh, the Norse Sigefrith. People sometimes translated it as Freeman, thinking it came from saoraidhe, ‘a freeman’, but Woulfe calls that a mistake.
• Sexton · Ó Seasnáin · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Seasnán. A Dalcassian family of Thomond, Woulfe writes, found at the end of the 16th century across Munster and in Longford, Cavan and Monaghan. A respectable branch settled in the city of Limerick, and the English form 'Sexten' appears there as early as 1533.
• Shanahan · Ó Seanacháin · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Seanachán, 'the old, wise one'. Seanachán is from seanach, old or wise. The O'Shanahans were a Dál gCais family, chiefs of Uí Ronghaile in east Thomond until 1318, when Toirdhealbhach O'Brien and the MacNamaras drove them out.
• Shanley · Mac Seanlaoich · Gaelic sept
  Son of the old hero. An old family of Roscommon and Leitrim, Woulfe writes. The name means son of the old hero.
• Sharkey · Ó Searcaigh · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Searcach, 'loving'. Woulfe says the name apparently began in Tyrone and spread into many parts of Ulster and Connacht. The ancestor's name means loving.
• Sheedy · Mac Síoda · Gaelic sept
  Son of Síoda, 'silk'. A branch of the MacNamaras in Clare, Limerick and Tipperary, Woulfe writes. A rare Ó Síoda, translated Silk in Galway, is a separate name.
• Sheehan · Ó Síodhacháin · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Síodhach, 'the peaceful'. Síodhachán is a diminutive of síodhach, peaceful. Woulfe gives two families: a Dál gCais family, very numerous throughout Munster, especially Cork, Kerry and Limerick; and an old Galway family, followers of O'Kelly of Uí Maine, still numerous in that county.
• Sheehy · Mac Síthigh · Scots-gallowglass
  Son of Sítheach, 'the peaceful' — or 'the otherworldly'. Mac Síthigh, son of Sítheach, peaceful: a branch of the MacDonnells of Scotland, famous as gallowglasses across Ireland from the 14th century. The Four Masters first mention them in 1367 in a battle near Ballysadare.
• Sheridan · Ó Sirideáin · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Sirideán, 'the seeker'. Ó Sirideáin, descendant of Sirideán: an ecclesiastical family who were erenaghs of Granard in Longford and afterwards moved to Cavan, where by the end of the 16th century they were followers of O'Reilly and are still numerous. Then the family turned to the pen and rose on it: Thomas Sheridan, Secretary of State under James II; Sir Thomas Sheridan, tutor to Bonnie Prince Charlie; Thomas Sheridan, Swift's closest friend; his grandson Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who conquered the London stage; and General Phil Sheridan, who rode for the Union.
• Sherlock · Scurlóg · Norman-English
  'fair-locked' — bright-haired. Scorlóg, from the Anglo-Saxon Scortlog, short lock, one with shorn hair. The family was in Ireland before the 13th century and soon spread widely, through Dublin, Meath, Louth, Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary; Scurlockstown in Meath keeps an older form of the name.
• Shiel · Ó Siadhail · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Siadhal. Of the race of Maine, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the Ó Siadhail became celebrated as physicians and surgeons in many parts of Ireland, Woulfe writes, including Delvin MacCoghlan, Oriel and Inishowen. Owen O'Sheil, 'the Eagle of Doctors', was physician to the armies of the Confederate Catholics from 1642 to 1650.
• Shine · Ó Seighin · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Seighin, 'wild ox'. An old Munster surname, Woulfe writes, still common in that province. The counties shown within Munster are approximate.
• Shortall · Seartal · Norman-English
  'short neck' (a nickname). Soirtéil, from the Anglo-Saxon scort-hals, short-neck. Woulfe thinks the family came to Ireland early in the reign of Edward I.
• Sinnott · Sionóid · Norse-English
  Sige-noth, 'victory-bold'. Sionóid, son of Sigenoth, an Anglo-Saxon name. The Sinnotts came with the invasion and settled in Wexford, where they have been numerous and influential ever since.
• Slattery · Ó Slatara · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Slatra, 'the strong, bold'. Ó Slatarra, from Slatra, bold or strong: a Dál gCais family, formerly seated at Ballyslattery in east Clare and now dispersed through Munster.
• Sloyan · Ó Sluaghadháin · Gaelic sept / Scots (the Sloanes of Antrim and Down)
  Descendant of Sluaghadhán, a diminutive of Sluaghadhach, ‘belonging to a host’. Woulfe says this was a fairly common surname in Co. Mayo, where it is spelt Sloyan and Sloyne.
• Smith · Mac Gabhann · Gaelic sept
  Son of the smith. In Ireland Smith is usually a translation of Mac an Ghobhann, son of the smith, a very common Irish surname. Woulfe notes that in the south it is now generally translated Smith, while MacGowan and Magowan are common in the north.
• Spillane · Ó Spealáin · Gaelic sept
  Descendant of Spealán — from speal, a scythe. Woulfe finds two families: one said to be Dalcassian, anciently chiefs of Ileagh in the barony of Eliogarty, Tipperary, long dispersed through Munster and Leinster; and one of the Uí Fiachrach, owners of Culleen in the parish of Kilglas, Sligo, still numerous in Connacht but generally calling themselves Spelman. Pronunciations like Ó Smoláin explain Smollan and Smullen.
• Stack · Stac · Norman-English
  Uncertain — perhaps 'haystack-built'. English: Stak or Stake, probably from living by a steep rock or hill, or by a tree stump. The Stacks are an old North Kerry family, settled there since at least the late 13th century; Maurice Stack was made Bishop of Ardfert in 1450, and John Stack held the same see thirty years later.
• Stewart · Stíobhard · Ulster Scots
  Steward of the royal household. An office that became a name: the steward of the royal household of Scotland, a post held from the 12th century by the family who eventually took the throne themselves and gave it the spelling Stuart in their French years. The name came to Ulster in numbers with the plantation of the 1600s, carried by farmers and weavers rather than kings, and it is now among the commonest surnames in the north.
• Sugrue · Ó Siocfhradha · Gaelic-Norse
  Descendant of Siocfhraidh — the Norse Sigefrith, 'victory-peace'. An old Kerry surname built on a Norse personal name, Sigefrith. Woulfe reports, without endorsing it, that the family is said to be a branch of the O'Sullivans.
• Sweeney · Mac Suibhne · Scots-gallowglass
  Son of Suibhne, 'well-going'. Suibhne means well-going. The MacSweeneys were a great military family, famous across Ireland as captains of gallowglasses.

Also spelled with S

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