Cara, I once asked why my Tooles from Dublin became O'T ooles when they came to the States. I thought it was you who pointed out that in Ireland they tried to mask the fact they were Catholic in order to get work, so they dropped the O'. When they came to the States, there was no such reason, although, in the States the Irish were discriminated against regardless of their religion and many dropped the prefixes or changed the spel ling of their names. There were also m any whose names were changed by the people at the port authorities they came through because the people coming through could not spell and so the people at the port authorities spelled them phoenetically or how they sounded to them and not necessarily correctly. Thus, in the St ates we have census records and immigration records that have many missp elt names in them and we are forever trying to find the correct Michael McDermott, John Toole, James Fitrzpatrick or the like. Then there is the guessing at which port they arrived. It is all so confusing. Ah, but when you find them, it is like finding a lost treasure (which it is!!!) Bill ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cara" <cara_links@bigpond.com> To: irl-dublin@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 7:19:36 PM Subject: Re: [IRL-DUBLIN] WHY THEY PUT THE "O" BACK IN THEIR NAMES 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 ****************************** 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

Cara and all who are interested in the change of name of many of the Irish went for when leaving their Irish homes and emigrating to other countries. >From my experience I find that the explanation Bill has put forward is very close to what happened in a branch of my family. On leaving Ireland they dropped the 'O' from O'Madden when arriving in England and never admitted that there had ever been an O in prefix. It was to do with trying to hide the fact they were Catholics. (bet it didn't work) The family later emigrated to NSW Australia and were quite angry if anyone here suggested that they should take the O back. My first cousin on my Walsh side (Kilkenny) married a Toole. She only agreed to the wedding if he would take back the 'O' . He agreed and she then became Mrs. O'Toole. It's a crazy world!!!! Paddy ----- Original Message ----- From: <wm.karr@comcast.net> To: <irl-dublin@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 11:45 AM Subject: Re: [IRL-DUBLIN] WHY THEY PUT THE "O" BACK IN THEIR NAMES > > > Cara, > > > > I once asked why my Tooles from Dublin became O'T ooles when they came to > the States. I thought it was you who pointed out that in Ireland they > tried to mask the fact they were Catholic in order to get work, so they > dropped the O'. When they came to the States, there was no such reason, > although, in the States the Irish were discriminated against regardless of > their religion and many dropped the prefixes or changed the spel ling of > their names. Bill > Subject: Re: [IRL-DUBLIN] WHY THEY PUT THE "O" BACK IN THEIR NAMES ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5144 - Release Date: 07/20/12

Paddy, My grandfather, Edwin O'Toole, married Margaret Walsh (my grandma) in Chicago, although, he did not have to add the O', as his father already did that. Small world!! <My first cousin on my Walsh side (Kilkenny) married a  Toole.  She only agreed to the wedding if he would take back the 'O' .  He agreed and she then became Mrs. O'Toole. It's a crazy world!!!! Paddy>