Foreword - Anglicised Surnames in Ireland
“Among the subsidiary material which helps to explain the annals, and to give their events a place in historical sequence, the genealogies have the highest importance.”
— (Mac Neill’s “Phases of Irish History”).
In undertaking to write a foreword for this book, I do so with much pleasure, but, at the same time, with a great deal of diffidence, for I know how difficult it is for anyone to fully appreciate the work of another, however much they may both have laboured on kindred subjects.
The amount of interesting material in this little book must have taken years to collect, but it must have been a labour of love.
I am glad the author has dealt so fully with Ulster and Scottish names. The information thrown a flood of light on the close connection, in early history, between the Gaels of Ireland and those of Scotland. No historical evidence can be stronger than that of language, place names, and family names, to show that in the main the inhabitants of both countries were of the same Gaelic stock.
Our family names and our place names are two sources of knowledge which help to illuminate our history, but which have been much neglected by Irish historians and antiquarians.
I trust this small work of Padraig Mac Giolla Domhraigh will meet with such a reception from the public as to encourage him to proceed with the larger work which he has promised us.
J. J. DOYLE
(beirt fear)