Hello Jerry, HAPPY ST PATRICK"S DAY TO YOU Should you have a chance I would really love to know of the Gibbons and Murphy name beginnings.. Mine are both from Mayo - towns of Castlebar and Turlough.. MaryPat

Hello MaryPat, or I should say Hello Kinswoman, Thank you. As you know, there are about 10-12 separate, unrelated families of Ó Murchadh / O'Murphy ('Grandson of Sea-Warrior'), but because you are feminine your Murphy surname is Ní Mhurchadh ('Grand-daughter of Sea-Warrior'). Nearly all Irish surnames are miniature genealogies for which gender is important. Mur is from Muir meaning 'ocean'. The chadh part of the name is related to Cath meaning 'battle.' The Ó Murchadh of Mayo are apparently a branch of the Uí Fhiachrach Muaidhe (U.F. of the Moy River valley) of the Uí Fhiachrach of the Connachta of the Féni. Woulfe (Sloinnte Gaedheal 7 Gall) points out that this family were "chiefs of a district on the southern shore of Sligo Bay, now comprised in the parishes of Skreen and Templeboy, but were dispossessed and dispersed in the 13th century." That would have been when the Norman De Búrca ('Burke') family moved into the neighborhood. My branch of the Uí Fhiachrach Muaidhe (the Ó Ceallaigh Theampall Buí) were right there in the same parish of Teampall Buí ('Templeboy') and wound up in Mayo as well. We might have migrated south together. As for the De Búrca family which moved into the neighborhood and quickly went completely Gaelic like nearly all the other Norman families in law, dress, custom, manner, world-outlook, clan structure, and language, one of their principal branches is the Mac Giobúin ('Gibbons') family, the other side of your family who were seated to the west of Croagh Patrick in Co. Mayo. Hope that's helpful, Jerry Kelly NA GAEIL MAGAZINE (coming soon to an internet near you) ----- Original Message ----- From: CMARYPATC@aol.com To: IRISH-AMERICAN-L@rootsweb.com ; jerrykelly@att.net Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 7:03 PM Subject: Re: [Irish-American] Gibbons & Murphy Hello Jerry, HAPPY ST PATRICK"S DAY TO YOU Should you have a chance I would really love to know of the Gibbons and Murphy name beginnings.. Mine are both from Mayo - towns of Castlebar and Turlough.. MaryPat