Gallagher
Ó Gallchobhair · descendant of Gallchobhar
Gallagher is Ó Gallchobhair in Irish, said oh GAL-a-kher, and means descendant of Gallchobhar.
From gall, foreign, and cabhair, help: foreign help, meaning a man who was a help abroad. The commonest name in Donegal by a distance.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Gallchobhair
- His daughter: Ní Ghallchobhair
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Ghallchobhair
- The family together: Uí Ghallchobhair
Where it comes from
Donegal
Also spelt
Gallagher, O’Gallagher, Gallaher, Golliher
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.