Ó Mearadhaigh

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Ó MEARADHAIGH—I—O Marie, O Merye, O Merehey, Mariga, Maree, Marry, Merry; 'descendant of Mearadhach' (lively); the name of an ancient family who were chiefs of Ui Fathaidh, now the barony of Iffa and Offa West, Co. Tipperary. O'Donovan gives the anglicised form as O'Meara or O'Mara, which is incorrect, the pronunciation being that represented by O'Merye and O'Merehey. It is undoubtedly the original form of the Waterford surname Merry, and synonymous with that now pronounced Ó Meardha (which see) in Waterford and East Cork. Dr. O'Brien, in his Irish Dictionary, and Dr. MacDermott, in his notes to Connellan's edition of the Annals of the Four Masters, both confound the families of Ó Meadhra of Rosarguid and Ó Mearadhaigh of Ui Fathaidh, although their respective territories were separated by nearly the whole length of Tipperary.

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