IRISH NAMES

Since returning home I have read with great interest the unique historical study of Mr. Michael J. O’Brien on the part played by the Irish in the early history of the Colonies and particularly in the Revolutionary War, founded on an exhaustive examination of Irish names inscribed in army rosters and other records of the period. In order to avoid the suspicion of over-playing his hand, Mr. O’Brien had to confine himself to names like his own, which undeniably indicate Irish birth or descent. He must have passed over many names which are common in every group of Irish throughout the world.

If we take only the names which have become prominent in the recent endeavors to establish the independence of Ireland—De Valera and Marcoviecz do not sound particularly Irish (even the militant lady’s maiden name of Gore-Booth does not much improve the matter); and while Kelly, Ryan, Dunn and Duffy are to the manner born, there was a time when Walsh, Pearse, and Plunkett were foreign names, Norman or Danish; and Kent, McNeil and Griffiths might very well be respectively English, Scotch or Welsh.

In the Regiment we had some good men of Scottish descent, but we had a number who volunteered for the Regiment drawn by Irish race feeling, bearing the names of Johnston, Cowie, Wilson, Bailey, Armstrong, Saunders, Campbell, Thompson, Chambers, Gordon, Ross, Scott, Watson, Stewart, Christy, Finlay, Grimson, Hamilton, Barr, Graham, Gillespie, Black, Walker, Catterson, Robinson, Holmes, Grant, Dunbar, Fraser, Kirk, Patterson, Gould, Wylie, Robinson, Roberts, Donaldson, Ferguson, McMillan, McDonald, McGregor, McPherson, Ogilvie, Craig, Cameron, McAndrews, McLean, McKay, MacIntosh, not forgetting our Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Anderson.

We had three or four score Jews in the Regiment that went abroad but there was a Coen, a Leavy and a Jacobs who were Irish.

Other regimental names that do not sound Irish to the ears of the uninitiate but are familiar in every Irish group are Clifford, Duane, Clark, Freeman, Winters, Phillips, Williams, Cunningham, Curtis, Johnson, Gough, Harrison, Grace, Jones, Loftus, Medler, Matthews, Morrison, Newman, King, Crawford, Biggar, Bambrick, Ring, Rice, Blythe, Gray, Judge, Morgan, Caulfield, Gilbert, Gilgar, Campion, Booth, Humphreys, Cook, Hill, Parks, Hunt, Garland, Gill, Warren, Reed, Hurst, Jenkins, Rogers, Grimes, Summers, Smith, Green, Brown, White, Martin, Mason, Lowe, Roe, Wade, Woods, Goodman, Fleming, French, English, Holland, Thornton, Wall, Travis, Travers, Morgan, Fletcher, Clinton, Richards, Jennings, Lynn, Taylor, Reynolds, Grundy, Stanley, Turner, Edwards, Dean, Meade, Conville, Ward, Clayton, Eustace, Lavelle, Clyne, Battle, Nelson, Wynne, Coppinger, Morton, Oakes, Fullam, Lynott, Lynar, Lysaght, Long, Fennell, Tuers, Birmingham, Hetherington, Temple, Whitty, Granville, Howard, Bealin, Stanley, Vaughan, Adams, Nash, Coneys, Mylott, Brickley, Mitchell, Diamond, De Witt, Hopkins, Quigg, Igo, Taylor, Ferris, Ledwith, Forrestal, Lever, Hoey, Fox, Russell, Sutcliffe, Hillery, Fisher, Kent, Boyce, Bevan, Rothwell, Adkins, Courtney, Mannix, Orr, Harris, Farnan, Hackett, Hopkins, Gaynor, Gunn, Broe, Bush, Goss, Wilde, Cox, Seagriff, Marshall, Davis, Bergen, Singleton, Rankin, Webb, Small. Not all of the possessors of these names in the Regiment were bearers of the Irish racial tradition, but the great majority of them were.

Sometimes the English sounding name was imported directly from Ireland, and the man’s nationality was never in doubt after one heard him speak, as in the case of Mansfield, Bugler, Maddock, Elwood, and others. Sometimes all doubt was removed by the Christian name, as in the cases of Patrick Ames, Patrick Stokes, Patrick Thynne, Patrick Porteous, Patrick Carlisle, Patrick Benson, Patrick Travers, Patrick Fawcett, Patrick Gorham, Patrick Masterson, or Michael Goodman, Michael Douglas, Michael Bowler, Michael Gettings, Denis Richardson, Bernard Clinton, Robert Emmett Mitchell, Bernard Granville, Francis X. Goodwin, John J. Booth.

The future historian who writes of the part played by the Irish element in this war will have a good deal of trouble collecting his data, partly on account of the tendency to bestow on children what our grandparents would call “fancy” names, and partly through the intermarriage of women with Irish names to men whose names indicate a different racial descent. Especially when the religion is the same, the children are very definitely Irish in race feeling. All of the following had the Irish kind of religion, and most of them claim to be of Irish descent; George Lawrence, James Archer, Wilton Wharton, Colton Bingham, Sherwood Orr, Melvin King, Earl Withrow, Lester Lenhart, Archibald Skeats, Dudley Winthrop, Warren Dearborn, Hurlburt McCallum, Harold Yockers, Dallas Springer, Joyce Kilmer, Clifford Wiltshire, Pelham Hall, Elmore Becker, Everett Guion, Lester Snyder; while others in the same category bore names such as Dayton, Lovett, Lappin, Trayer, Shepherd, Harndon, Harnwell, Ashworth, Bradbury, Everett, Adikes, Keyes, Boone, Bibby, Beverly, Aspery, Cornell, Morthurst, Battersby, Dawson, Chamberlain, Cousens, Hasting, Blackburne, Griswold, Bagley, Forman, Myers, Nye, Firman, Weaver, Irons, Garrett, Kyle, Forms, Kear, Alnwick, Boomer, Dobbins, Ogden, Dresser, Frear, Bennett, Cooper, Gracely, Schofield, Fredericks, Walters, Voorhis, Chatterton, Kolodgy, Law, Vail, Field, Throop, Menrose, Hawk, Waddell, Drake, Flint, Elworth, Maryold, Knott, Hagger, Espy, Cuffe, Peel, Stiles, Willett, Leaper, Gauthier and Denair.

A number of volunteers were drawn to the old Irish Regiment by the bonds of a common faith. And in the course of two years spent amongst them it was an easier matter while performing my office as Chaplain to get a line on their personal beliefs than on their racial descent. We had for example Guignon, Bonnard, Pierre, Viens, and Pepin; Mendes, Echeverria, Rodriguez and Garcia; Gardella, Brangaccio, Georgi, Lorelli, Guida, Menicocci, Tricarico, Depietro and Speranza; Romanuk, Ragninny, Hovance, Sypoula, Puttlitz and Ivanowski, with plenty of names like Arenholz, Schmidt, Stumpf, Dietrich, Weick, Schmedlein, Schluter, Leudesdorf and Kahn. Some with names sounding just like these last ones were Irish on the distaff side, such as Almendinger, Winestock, Schwartz, Ettinger, Schroppel, Mehl, Rohrig, Peisel, Hans, Landzert, Clauberg, Ritz, Steinert, Messmer, Zimmerman, Finger, Richter, Herold, Schick, Buechner, Sauer, Beyer, Haerting, Meyer, Roesel, Willermin, Miller, Dryer, Hugo, Wilker, Fisher, Staber, Augustine, Dierenger, Morschhauser, Ritter, Haspel, Becker, and Grauer.

Two small groups of “Irish” struck my fancy—one with Scandinavian names like Drivdahl, Malmquist, and Larsen; and a few of the Vans; Van Pelt, Vanderdonck, Van Wye and Van Benschoten.

One way of estimating the character of the regiment would be to examine the lists of the dead, to find what names preponderate inthem. In those lists we findsevenmen named Kelly;fiveMcCarthy;fourO’Neill, O’Brien, and Brennan;threeBaker, Brown, Campbell, Cook, Cronin, Daly, Kane, Lynch, McDonald, McKeon, McLoughlin, Martin, Murphy, O’Connor, O’Rourke, Scanlan, Smith, Sullivan and Wynne;twoAdkins, Allen, Ames, Boyle, Byrnes, Collins, Coneys, Connelly, Conway, Curtin, Dolan, Dunnigan, Donovan, Dougherty, Farrell, Fitzpatrick, Ford, Gavin, Geary, Gordon, Gray, Gunnell, Hamilton, Hart, Higgins, Johnson, Lane, Leonard McMillan, McKay, McKenna, McSherry, Mahoney, Minogue, Mitchell, Morrissey, Naughton, Peterson, Philips, Quinn, Reilly, Riordon, Robinson, Rooney, Ryan, Scott, Slattery, Thomson, Williams and Walsh.

OFFICERS OF THE NEW YORK CHAPTER RAINBOW DIVISION VETERANS

President, William J. Donovan.1st Vice Pres., George J. Lawrence,2nd Vice Pres., T. W. Ferguson,3rd Vice Pres., John Farrell,Secretary, Daniel B. J. O’Connell,Treasurer, Timothy J. Moynahan,Financial Secretary, John McNamara,Historian, Francis P. Duffy,Chaplain, James M. Hanley.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE 165TH INFANTRY

WOMEN’S AUXILIARY TO 165TH INFANTRY

U. S. A. Inc.

THE ENTRY INTO BELGIUM

HEADQUARTERS AT REMAGEN GROUP OF RECIPIENTS OF D. S. C.

COLONEL DONOVAN AND STAFF REVIEWING PARADE AT 110TH STREET

RECEPTION AT CITY HALL

Back to Index Next