O’Rourke
Ó Ruairc · descendant of Ruarc
O’Rourke is Ó Ruairc in Irish, said oh ROO-irk, and means descendant of Ruarc.
Ruarc is a Norse name taken into Irish, from Hrothrekr. Tiernan O’Rourke’s wife Dervorgilla left with Dermot MacMurrough in 1152, and the row that followed brought the Normans.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Ruairc
- His daughter: Ní Ruairc
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Ruairc
- The family together: Uí Ruairc
Where it comes from
Breifne, Leitrim and Cavan
Also spelt
O’Rourke, Rourke, Rorke, Roark
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.