Irish placenames

Identifying an Irish place name

Most problems with Irish placenames have to do with peculiar phonetic renderings of the original Irish language names. When trying to identify the location of a name, keep in mind that English cannot cope with some of the sounds of Irish. Some imagination and persistence may be needed. The most common problems and solutions are listed below.

The most changeable sounds are vowels and vowel-like sounds - a, e, i, o, u, gh, ch. Thus the original Irish Drum na Roghan might be rendered as Drumrown, Drimnyrone, Drommnarone, Dramrowny etc.

Common Irish Placename Elements
ELEMENT	TRANSLATION	VARIATION
Ath	ford	Agha-, Ath-, Aha-, Agh-, A-
Baile	town/homeplace	Bally-, Bal-, Ball-, Ballina-, Ballyna-
Carrig	rock	Carrig-, Carrick-
Ceathru	quarter	Carra-, Carrow-, Curra-, Curragh-, Car-, Curry-
Cill	Church	Kil-, Kill-
Cluan	meadow	Cloon-, Clon-
Cnoc	hill	Knock-
Cúl	rear	Cool-, Cul
Domhnach	Sunday/Church	Donny-, Dunna-, Donna-
Dún	fort	Dun-, Don-
Drum	hillock	Drum-, Drim-, Drom-
Gort	field	Gurt-, Gort-
Inis	island	Inis-, Inish-, Inch-, Insh-
Leath	half	Le-, La-
Rath	fort	Rath-, Ra-
Tamhlagh	grave	Talla-, Tamla-
Tullach	hill	Tulla-, Tul-, Toll-

Irish Placenames

Identifying an Irish place name

Common Irish Placename Elements

ELEMENT

TRANSLATION

VARIATION