Week 6: Favourite name

As the name of a country, IRELAND or EIRE is my favourite.

I never really understood why I felt my closest attachment to this country; the brogue, the music, the people, the history and the heritage, the cities and countryside... just everything... but from an early age it just felt right.

Paper-tracing my ethnic heritage back to the nationalities of the New Zealand settlers showed a majority of ancestors from the UK, 10/16 of my 2x great-grandparents. Twice as many as my 5/16 Irish ancestors, so why?

 



Mid last year I had my DNA tested by ancestry.com and by studying my ethnicity, it looks to have answered my question...

 

It shows 47% of my ethnicity originating in Ireland/Scotland/Wales, and only 3% from Great Britain (a low confidence region). I believe 2/16 of my 2x great-grandparents do come from Scotland (although this has still to be confirmed) which often shared ancestral heritage with Eire through migration. No known ancestry from Wales at this date.

 

Ireland consists of 4 provinces:

Munster is made up of, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford. The main city is Cork.

Connaught - is made up of Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo. The main city is Galway.

Leinster is made up of Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly,
              Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow. The main city is Dublin.
Ulster is mostly part of the UK.  



 

I have been able to attribute some of my ancestry to Munster (as per ancestry assessment) but Connaught appears to figure prominantly, and possibly Leinster.

Irish ancestry place of origin (left to right and top to bottom):
            Patrick O'MALLEY- Corofin, County Clare, MUNSTER
            Eileen SHERIDAN- some mystery. Oral history suggests Eileen was born at the Dublin Police Barracks. LEINSTER.
           Mary Jane ANNETT- some mystery. It is possible MJ was born in Dublin, LEINSTER prior to her mother meeting
                                            William  ANNETT (1841 census for MJ/1851 census for her mother Mary ).

           Michael MEALLY/O'MALLEY - Corofin, County Clare, MUNSTER.

           Margaret FLANAGAN - Kilfenora, County Clare, MUNSTER.
           Terence SHERIDAN - some mystery, maybe Old Castle, Meath, and Dublin, LEINSTER.
           Mary Anne MANNING - Achil Island, County Mayo, CONNAUGHT.
           MANNING and MULLENS links are ties to Kilronan, Aran Isles and Achil Is, CONNAUGHT.



So yes, questions answered but more questions to ask also... did my british ancetors originate in Ireland before settling in England pre1800? How does ancestry access and attribute its ethnicities?