Táth

TÁTH—VIII—Ta, Tath, Taath, Taaf, Taff, Taaffe; 'son of David'; compare with modern Irish Dáth and Welsh Taffy; the name of a distinguished family of Welsh origin who settled at an early period in Co. Louth. Towards the end of the 13th century, flourished Sir Nicholas Taaffe, Justice of the Common Pleas, whose son, John Taaffe, became Archbishop of Armagh. In the reign of Elizabeth, Sir William Taaffe did good service against Hugh O'Neill and subsequently against the Spaniards at Kinsale, for which he was rewarded by James I with large grants of confiscated lands in Co. Sligo. In 1628, his son, John Taaffe, was created Baron of Ballymote and Viscount Corren; and in 1661, Theobald, son of this John Taaffe, was made Earl of Carlingford. The Taaffes were most zealous supporters of the Stuarts, in whose cause they sacrificed everything. Nicholas, the second Earl of Carlingford, fell at the Boyne, and the family honours devolved on his brother Francis, the celebrated Count Taaffe of the German Empire.

Alphabetical Index to Irish Surnames