Gibbons is an Irish and English surname of Norman origin. [1] The surname was first found in the counties of Limerick and Mayo, in which two distinct families arose shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland during the 12th century. [2]
The surname is derived from "Gibb", a short form of the popular Norman personal name Gilbert, which was first introduced in the 11th century by followers of William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest of England. It was originally derived from the name Gislebert or Gillebert, which is composed of the Germanic elements Gisil which means "hostage", "pledge", or "noble youth," and berht, which means "bright" or "famous." [3]
Most of those with the surname hail from Mayo and are a branch of the great Burke family, which played a prominent role in the Norman invasion. They were originally known as "MacGibbon Burke" [4] or "Mac Giobúin, son of Gilbert" (de Burgh). They were noted to have integrated into the local culture and customs more completely than other Norman invaders, [5] intermarrying with native noble Irish and becoming "more Irish than the Irish themselves". [6]
The family from Limerick is a branch of the aristocratic FitzGerald dynasty. They were knights descended from the Irish baron John FitzThomas (FitzGerald), ancestor of The Earls of Desmond and grandson of the Norman baron Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Llanstephan. [5] The second branch of the FitzGerald family came to be known as "FitzGibbon" and were given the title of the White Knight, holding territory in southeast Limerick, near County Cork. The other two branches of the family were known as the Green Knight and the Black Knight, both of which kept the FitzGerald name. [6]
Gibbons may also be used as a first name. Notable people with the name include:
The Knight of Glin, also known as the Black Knight or Knight of the Valley, was an hereditary title held by the FitzGerald and FitzMaurice families of County Limerick, Ireland, since the early 14th century. The family was a branch of the FitzMaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty commonly known as the Geraldines and related to the now extinct Earls of Desmond who were granted extensive lands in County Limerick by the Crown. The title was named after the village of Glin, near the Knight's lands. The Knight of Glin was properly addressed as "Knight".
Earl of Clare was a title of British nobility created three times: once each in the peerages of England, Great Britain and Ireland.
McDonough is an Irish surname.
The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ri "sovereign, king" and the diminutive suffix -in; thus "the king's child" or "big king". The name was borne by two distinct families: one seated in Meath, the other in Thomond.
The FitzGerald dynasty is a Hiberno-Norman noble and aristocratic dynasty, originally of Cambro-Norman and Anglo-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the Four Masters as having become "more Irish than the Irish themselves" or Gaels, due to assimilation with the native Gaelic aristocratic and popular culture. The dynasty has also been referred to as the Geraldines and Ireland's largest landowners. They achieved power through colonisation and the conquest of large swathes of Irish territory by the sons and grandsons of Gerald de Windsor. Gerald de Windsor was the first Castellan of Pembroke Castle in Wales, and became the male progenitor of the FitzMaurice and FitzGerald Dynasty. His father, Baron Walter FitzOther, was the first Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle for William the Conqueror, and was the Lord of 38 manors in England, making the FitzGeralds one of the "service families" on whom the King relied for his survival. Some of its members became the Black Knights, Green Knights and White Knights.
The family name Whelan is an anglicisation of the Irish surname Ó Faoláin. The surname originates from the Middle Irish Úa Faeláin the name of the 10th to 11th century ruling dynasty of the Déisi, a population group inhabiting the area of the modern county of Waterford and County Kilkenny in the early medieval period.
Sutton, originally de Sutton, is an English toponymic surname. One origin is from Anglo-Saxon where it is derived from sudh, suth, or suð, and tun referring to the generic placename "southern farm". Note that almost every county in England contains one or more placenames bearing the prefix "Sutton". The Domesday Book (1086) contains the first recorded spelling of the surname as "Ketel de Sudtone"; "Suttuna" also appeared in 1086 in records from Ely, Cambridgeshire. In 1379 tax records, the surname appears as "de Sutton". One source refers to the origin as being Anglo-Norman, with the name itself derived as described above, from Anglo-Saxon terms.
Reynolds is a surname in the English language. Among the earliest recorded use of the surname is from the early 14th century.
Fitzmaurice is a Hiberno-Norman, Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman surname. It is patronymic as the prefix Fitz-
derives from the Latin filius, meaning "son of".
Walsh is a common Irish surname, meaning "Briton" or "foreigner", taken to Ireland by soldiers from Britain, namely Welsh, Cambro-Norman, Cornish and Cumbrian soldiers during and after the Norman invasion of Ireland. It is the fourth most common surname in Ireland, and the 265th most common in the United States. There are variants including "Walshe", “Welch”, "Welsh", and "Brannagh". Walsh is uncommon as a given name. The name is often pronounced "Welsh" in the south and west of the country. In Great Britain, Guppy encountered the name only in Lancashire. It is the surname of the Barons Ormathwaite.
Fitz was a patronymic indicator used in Anglo-Norman England to help distinguish individuals by identifying their immediate predecessors. Meaning "son of", it would precede the father's forename, or less commonly a title held by the father. In rare cases, it formed part of a matronymic to associate the bearer with a more prominent mother. Convention among modern historians is to represent the word as fitz, but in the original Norman French documentation, it appears as fiz, filz, or similar forms, deriving from the Old French noun filz, fiz, meaning "son of", and ultimately from Latin filius (son). Its use during the period of English surname adoption led to its incorporation into patronymic surnames, and at later periods this form was adopted by English kings for the surnames given some of their recognized illegitimate children, and by Irish families when anglicizing their Gaelic patronymic surnames.
Goggin is a surname.
Flanagan is a common surname of Irish origin and an Anglicised version of the Irish name Ó Flannagáin which is derived from the word "flann" meaning 'red' or 'ruddy'.
Fitzgibbon, FitzGibbon, Fitz-Gibbon and Fitzgibbons are Irish surnames of Anglo-Norman origin. FitzGibbon and its variants have long been widespread and important surnames within Ireland. The surnames were first found in 12th century Ireland, shortly after the Norman invasion of Ireland, in which two distinct families were established in Limerick and Mayo.
Coates is an English and Scottish surname.
Wade is a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin. It is thought to derive from the Middle English given name "Wade," which itself derived from the pre-7th century Old English verb "wadan" (wada) meaning "to go", or as a habitational name from the Old English word "(ge)waed" meaning "ford".
Scanlan is an Irish surname that derives from the Irish Gaelic name Ó Scannláin, meaning descendant of Scannlán’. Notable people with the surname include:
Bourke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, a variant of the surname Burke, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (c.1160–1206) had the surname de Burgh which was gaelicised in Irish as de Búrca and over the centuries became Búrc then Burke and Bourke.
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.
Gibbon is an English and Irish surname with Norman roots.