I always wondered why, around the turn of the 20th century, my RORKE's became O'RORKE, and my CONNOR's became O'CONNOR's. But I've just read an interesting article by the GUILD OF ONE-NAME STUDIES which seems to explain it, as follows: "During the Gaelic Revival of the late 19th century, and the struggle for independence in the first quarter of the 20th century, nationalists began using the Gaelic prefixes of "O" and "Mac" before their surnames"............ So, it seems that the mystery is solved! Colette

I think the reason for it being dropped is more interesting than why they added it back Colette have you read about the Pale? Very intriguing stuff. Cara -----Original Message----- From: irl-dublin-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:irl-dublin-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of colette o rorke Sent: 20 July 2012 09:08 To: Dublin City list; dublin tracing your roots Subject: [IRL-DUBLIN] WHY THEY PUT THE "O" BACK IN THEIR NAMES I always wondered why, around the turn of the 20th century, my RORKE's became O'RORKE, and my CONNOR's became O'CONNOR's. But I've just read an interesting article by the GUILD OF ONE-NAME STUDIES which seems to explain it, as follows: "During the Gaelic Revival of the late 19th century, and the struggle for independence in the first quarter of the 20th century, nationalists began using the Gaelic prefixes of "O" and "Mac" before their surnames"............ So, it seems that the mystery is solved! Colette ****************************** Topic: A mailing list for anyone with a genealogical interest in County Dublin, Ireland and the City of Dublin. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-DUBLIN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5140 - Release Date: 07/18/12