Pat at patvon@gtw.net writes: << Since I am researching the Comer family, I am curious about any connection to the name Castlecomer, which I have run across several times but know nothing about. >> Pat, I assume you're referring to the town of Castlecomer in Co. Kilkenny. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll get much help there. Without going into the extensive detail which John O'Donovan gives in his Ordnance Survey letter of August 1839, the end result is that the Comer referred to in the town name comes from Cumar/Chumair which means "a meeting of the streams". In fact, the name may come from "between the meetings of the streams, as the town is located between two such confluences. But, in any case, the Comer doesn't come from the surname (although some residents may have taken their surname from the town/townland/parish of Castlecomer <gr>). Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts