Byrne
Ó Broin · descendant of Bran
Byrne is Ó Broin in Irish, said oh BRIN, and means descendant of Bran.
Bran means a raven. The family were kings of north Leinster, pushed into the Wicklow mountains after the Normans came and a thorn in Dublin’s side for four hundred years afterwards.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Broin
- His daughter: Ní Bhroin
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Bhroin
- The family together: Uí Bhroin
Where it comes from
Wicklow
Also spelt
Byrne, O’Byrne, Burns, Beirne
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.