Ó Ciarmhaic

Rev Patrick Woulfe

1923

Ó CIARMHAIC—I—O Kervick, O Kerwick, O Kervy, O Kerby, Kerwick, Keerwick, Kerby, Kirby; 'descendant of Ciarmhac' (black-son); the name of an ancient family in East Limerick, who were chiefs of Eoghanacht Aine, the district lying around Knockany, until after the Anglo-Norman invasion, and are still numerous not only in Limerick, but throughout Munster. It would appear from the Annals of the Four Masters (A.D. 1087) that there was another family of the same name in Leinster, doubtless that now represented by Kerwick in Co. Kilkenny. Ó Ciarmhaic has long been corrupted in the spoken language of Limerick and Kerry to Ó Ciarba, which see.

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