Burke
de Búrca · of Burgh
Burke is de Búrca in Irish, said deh BOOR-ka, and means of Burgh.
William de Burgh came with the Normans in 1185 and his family became, in the old phrase, more Irish than the Irish themselves. The name was Gaelicised rather than the family anglicised.
How it changes
- A man: de Búrca
- His daughter: de Búrca
- A woman who married into it: Bean de Búrca
- The family together: de Búrca
Where it comes from
Galway, Mayo and Limerick
Also spelt
Burke, Bourke, Bourk, de Burgh
A name, not a pedigree
This is where the name came from, which is not the same as where you came from. Names were translated, anglicised, taken on by tenants and neighbours, and carried in by settlers who were no relation to the family that started them. To follow your own line, the 1901 and 1911 censuses are free and searchable, and give the county each person was born in.