Every list of these stops at the joke. The better story is underneath: almost all of them are ordinary Irish words, a plain, a tooth, a piece of work, written down by English clerks who wrote what they heard. A couple really do mean what they sound like, and those are marked too.
| Place | County | In Irish | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muff | Donegal | Magh | a plain |
| Nobber | Meath | An Obair | the work |
| Effin | Limerick | Eimhín | no meaning given |
| Bastardstown | Wexford | Baile Bhastaird | the townland of a man called Bastard |
| Horetown | Wexford | Baile an Hóraigh | no meaning given |
| Hackballscross | Louth | Crois an Mhaoir | no meaning given |
| Feakle | Clare | An Fhiacail | the tooth |
| Tempo | Fermanagh | An tIompú Deiseal | the right-hand turn |
| Termon | Donegal | An Tearmann | place of sanctuary |
| Ballsbridge | Dublin | Droichead na Dothra | the bridge over the Dodder |
| Lusk | Dublin | Lusca | a vault |
| Nad | Cork | Nead an Iolair | the eagle's nest |
| Muckanaght | Galway | Muiceanach | a pig's back |
| Mullingar | Westmeath | An Muileann gCearr | the left-handed, or crooked, mill |
Magh · a plain
A village at the mouth of the Foyle, beside the border. Nothing more than the Irish word for a plain, the same magh that is in Moy and Mayo.
An Obair · the work
A village in north Meath. Say an obair quickly and the English spelling makes sense: the article and the word run together into Nobber.
Eimhín
A townland and parish between Kilmallock and Charleville. The Irish form is Eimhín; the English spelling is the clerk's.
Baile Bhastaird · the townland of a man called Bastard
This one is what it says. Bargy was heavily settled after the Norman invasion, many of its townlands carry the names of medieval landowners, and one of them was probably nicknamed Bastard. The Irish name is a straight translation of the English, not the other way round.
Baile an Hóraigh
A civil parish west of Wexford town, with Horetown North and Horetown South among its townlands.
Crois an Mhaoir
A small village on the N53. Nobody knows where the English name came from. The local legend is an 18th-century landowner who hacked thieves or rebels to death on his land, which is a legend, not an etymology.
An Fhiacail · the tooth
A village in east Clare, historically Feakell or Fiakil. The parish is Paróiste na Fiacaile, the parish of the tooth.
An tIompú Deiseal · the right-hand turn
A village at the foot of Brougher Mountain, historically called Tempodeshel, which keeps more of the Irish.
An Tearmann · place of sanctuary
A village in north Donegal, named as a place of sanctuary.
Droichead na Dothra · the bridge over the Dodder
The Dublin suburb was historically Ball's Bridge. The Irish name leaves Ball out and names the river instead.
Lusca · a vault
A town in north County Dublin. The vault is thought to be the one below its round tower.
Nead an Iolair · the eagle's nest
A small village in Duhallow, whose three-letter English name is all that is left of a far grander Irish one.
Muiceanach · a pig's back
Not a town but one of the Twelve Bens in Connemara, 654 metres high, named, in Irish, like the back of a pig.
An Muileann gCearr · the left-handed, or crooked, mill
Not funny in English, but the Irish is: a county town named for a mill that turned the wrong way.
Muff in Donegal, Nobber in Meath, Effin in Limerick, Bastardstown and Horetown in Wexford, Hackballscross in Louth and Feakle in Clare are the best known. Most are ordinary Irish words spelled by English clerks: Muff is magh, a plain, Nobber is an obair, the work, and Feakle is an fhiacail, the tooth.
Muff, in County Donegal, comes from the Irish magh, a plain, the same word found in Moy and Mayo.
Yes, a townland in the parish of Kilmore, County Wexford. It is one of the few that means what it sounds like: it was probably named for a medieval Norman landowner nicknamed Bastard, and the Irish name Baile Bhastaird is a translation of the English.
Irish placenames are the State's to settle, and Logainm ↗ is the authority. Know a better one? Tell us. · Decode any Irish placename · Surprising facts about Ireland