I am new to searching for family in Ireland and confused by Laois and Laoighis. Are they one and the same, or different counties ?? Thanks in advance for any help on this. Frank in Florida

Laois is the current name for the county. It was also the name before it became known as Queen's county. Laoighis is an Irish spelling for the name of the county. Leix is a name which was given to Laois at some stage. It is more an English translation of the name Laois. County Laois was called Queen's county by the English. You will see it written as Laix (pronouncing that 'x') and something like Lakes - also as Leeks......amongst other variations, depending on how the people pronounced it. Laois is pronounced Leash as in a dog's leash. The older people in the county may call it Leix which is pronounced as Leeks or the 'ee' sound can become and 'ai' sound giving the Laix/Lakes pronounciation. Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Osborne" <os461@pciol.net> To: <IRL-LAOIS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 5:10 PM Subject: Confused > I am new to searching for family in Ireland and confused > by Laois and Laoighis. Are they one and the same, or > different counties ?? > > Thanks in advance for any help on this. > Frank in Florida > > > ==== IRL-LAOIS Mailing List ==== > > >