Costello (surname)

Last updated

Costello
Pronunciation /kəˈstɛl/ or (especially in Ireland) /ˈkɒstəl/
Italian: [koˈstɛllo]
Language(s) English
Origin
Language(s) Irish
Word/nameMac Oisdealbhaigh
Meaning"son of Oisdealbhach (Os-shaped, shaped like the god Os or shaped like god cf. os)"
Other names
Cognate(s)Mac Oisdealbh, Mac Goisdelbh, Mac Coisdealbhaigh
See alsoMac Coisteala

Costello is a surname of Irish origin, which has been used as a stage name by Italians and others. [1]

Contents

History

The Irish surnames Costello, Costelloe, and Costellow are anglicized forms of the Gaelic surname Mac Oisdealbhaigh, itself a Gaelicized form of an Anglo-Norman name. This was the first example of a Norman family assuming a Gaelic name. [2]

This surname has been mainly borne by a notable Irish family who claimed descent from Jocelyn de Angulo, an Anglo-Norman mercenary who accompanied Richard de Clare to Ireland in 1170 during the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland.

An early record of the name in Ireland appears in the 17th century Annals of the Four Masters where the name is mentioned in the entry for the year in 1193: Inis Clothrann do orgain la macaibh Oisdealb, & la macaibh Conchobhair Maonmaighe. (Inishcloghbran was plundered by the sons of Oisdealb, and the sons of Conor Moinmoy.) [3] The descendants of Oisdealb then became referred to by the family name Mac Oisdealbhaigh (son of Oisdealb).

Costello has also occasionally has been adopted as a pseudonym or stage name by famous people largely of Italian descent, including Al Costello ( Giacomo Costa), Frank Costello ( Francesco Castiglia) and Lou Costello ( Louis Francis Cristillo).

People

Fictional characters with the surname

See also

Related Research Articles

Murphy is an Irish surname.

Brennan is an Irish surname which is an Anglicised form of two different Irish-language surnames: Ó Braonáin and Ó Branáin. Historically, one source of the surname was the prominent clan Ua Braonáin (O'Brennan) of Uí Duach (Idough) in Osraige who were a junior Dál Birn sept stemming from a younger son of Cerball mac Dúnlainge (d.888). Recent surname evaluations highlighted the geographic consistency of this lineage in the barony of Idough. However, based on the ultimate authority of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh they are out of Ui Dhuinn (O’Dunn) and, therefore, an Uí Failghi tribe, not Osraige. While it is clearly apparent that O’Hart's pedigree is erroneous, it is suggested that Ó Cléirigh probably became confused while transcribing from Mac Fhirbhisigh. This is echoed by the modern scholar, Bart Jaski.

Doyle is a surname of Irish origin. The name is a back-formation from O'Doyle, which is an Anglicisation of the Irish Ó Dubhghaill, meaning "descendant of Dubhghall". There is another possible etymology: the Anglo-Norman surname D'Oyley with agglutination of the French article de. It means 'from Ouilly', the name of a knight who originated from one of the places named Ouilly in Normandy, such as Ouilly-le-Tesson, Ouilly-le-Vicomte, etc. The relationship with the family D'Oyly is unknown.

Moran is a modern Irish surname derived from membership of a medieval dynastic sept. The name means a descendant of Mórán. “Mor” in Gaelic translates as big or great and “an” as the prefix the. Morans were a respected sept of the Uí Fiachrach dynasty in the western counties of Mayo and Sligo. In Ireland, where the name descended from the Gaelic, it is generally pronounced MORR-ən anglicised approximate of the Irish pronunciation.

O'Connor is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rogers (surname)</span> Surname list

Rogers is an English patronymic surname deriving from the given name of Roger commonly used by the Normans and meaning "son of Roger". Variants include Rodgers.

Curry is a common surname used in Ireland, Scotland and England. Currey is a less common variant. In England and Scotland, the is thought to derive from local place names and, in Scotland, also possibly from MacMhuirrich.

Cavanagh or Cavanaugh is a surname of Irish origin, a variation of the Irish family surname Caomhánach.

MacDonnell, Macdonnell, or McDonnell is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin. It is an anglicized form of the Gaelic patronymic Mac Dhòmhnaill, meaning "son of Dòmhnall". The Gaelic personal name Dòmhnall is a Gaelicised form of the name Donald, which is composed of the elements domno, meaning "world", and val, meaning "might" or "rule". The name is considered a variation of MacDonald.

Barry is both a given name and an Irish surname. The given name can be an Anglicised form of some Irish personal names or shortened form of Barrington, while the surname has numerous etymological origins, and is derived from both place names and personal names.

Lindsay is a Scottish surname and given name. The given name comes from the Scottish surname and clan name, which comes from the toponym Lindsey, which in turn comes from the Old English toponym Lindesege for the city of Lincoln, in which Lind is the original Brittonic form of the name of Lincoln and island refers to Lincoln being an island in the surrounding fenland. Lindum Colonia was the Roman name of the settlement which is now the City of Lincoln in Lincolnshire. Lindum was a Latinized form of a native Brittonic name which has been reconstructed as *Lindon, which means "pool" or "lake" and refers to the Brayford Pool.

Ryan is a common surname of Irish origin, as well as being a common given name in the English-speaking world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burke</span> Surname list

Burke is a Norman-Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh had the surname de Burgh, which was gaelicised in Irish as de Búrca and over the centuries became Búrc, then Burke, and Bourke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fitzsimons</span> Surname list

Fitzsimons is a surname of Norman origin common in both Ireland and England. The name is a variant of "Sigmundsson", meaning son of Sigmund. The Gaelicisation of this surname is Mac Síomóin or Mac an Ridire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fletcher (surname)</span> Surname list

Fletcher is a surname of French, English, Scottish and Irish origin. The name is a regional and an occupational name for an arrowsmith, derived from the Old French flecher. The English word was borrowed into the Goidelic languages, leading to the development of the Scottish name "Mac an Fhleisteir", "the arrowsmith's son."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McDonagh</span>

The surname McDonagh, also spelled MacDonagh is from the Irish language Mac Dhonnchadha, and is now one of the rarer surnames of Ireland.

McKenna is an Irish surname. It derives from the Gaelic name Cináed, meaning, “born of fire.” It is the anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Cionaodha meaning "son of Cionnaith", or of the Scottish surname, from Galloway, "MacCionaodha".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FitzGerald (surname)</span> Surname list

FitzGerald or Fitzgerald, is an Irish surname of Hiberno-Norman origin. It is a patronymic derived from the prefix Fitz- from the Latin filius- plus Gerald, thus meaning "son of Gerald”. In Gaelic it is rendered Mac Gearailt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maguire family</span> Surname list

The Maguire family is an Irish clan based in County Fermanagh. The name derives from the Gaelic Mac Uidhir, which is "son of Odhar" meaning "dun", "dark one". According to legend, this relates to the eleventh descendant of Colla da Chrich, great-grandson of Cormac mac Airt, who was monarch of Ireland about the middle of the third century. From the 13th to the 17th centuries, the Maguire family were kings of Fermanagh.

Quinn is an Anglicised form of the Irish Ó Coinn or Mac Cuinn. The latter surname means "descendant of Conn". The surname Quinn is also rendered Ó Cuinn or Mac Cuinn in Irish. The surname is borne by several unrelated families in Ireland, especially in the northern province of Ulster and also the counties of Clare, Longford, and Mayo. According to the historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Quins were part of the Conmaicne Rein tribe in Ireland who came from the Erainn tribe who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland from about 500 and 100 BC. The most notable family of the name are that of Thomond, a Dalcassian sept, who derive their surname from Niall Ó Cuinn who was slain at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. This family was formerly represented by the Earls of Dunraven. Another family is that seated in Annaly, who were related to the O'Farrell lords of Longford. Another Quinn family was seated at An Chraobh, County Tyrone and they were related to the O'Neill Kings of Tír Eoghain and for whom they acted as Hereditary Quartermasters. Other families include one seated in Antrim; one seated in Raphoe; and one called Clann Cuain, seated near Castlebar. In the seventeenth century, the surname Quinn was common in Waterford. In 1890, the surname was numerous in Dublin, Tyrone, Antrim, and Roscommon. Quinn is one of the twenty most common surnames in Ireland. It is sometimes said that the surname Quinn is borne by Catholics whilst Quin is borne by Protestants.

References

  1. The Routledge History of Italian Americans, William J. Connell, Stanislao G. Pugliese
  2. Edward MacLysaght, The Surnames of Ireland, under "Costello".
  3. "Annals of the Four Masters". ucc.ie. Retrieved 18 April 2015.