Walsh
Breatnach · the Briton, the Welshman
Walsh is Breatnach in Irish, said BRAT-nakh, and means the Briton, the Welshman.
Not a Gaelic family name at all but a label: the Welshmen who came with the Normans in 1169 and were called Breatnach by their neighbours. It is now one of the half dozen commonest surnames in the country.
How it changes
- A man: Breatnach
- His daughter: Bhreatnach
- A woman who married into it: Bean Bhreatnach
- The family together: Bhreatnach
Where it comes from
everywhere, but thickest in Mayo, Kilkenny and Waterford
Also spelt
Walsh, Welsh, Brannagh, Walshe
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.