You're right. There was certainly a concerted effort to anglicize Ireland--largely successful, too until the Gaelic revival of the latter part of the 19th century. Nancy -------------- Original message from "David A. Myers" <[email protected]>: -------------- > > > > >On the family names, a point that I can make is that Gray in that area is > >often synonomous with Colreavy, strange as that may seem, so you need to > >be aware of both names. In fact one of my cousins says that if you live > >in the country, your name is Colreavy; if you live in town, your name is Gray. > >Nancy Gray > > Nancy, > You may already know this, but an Irish priest friend of mine told me that > the English, in their never-ending effort to wipe out Irish culture and > people, forced the Irish to change their names. They wanted them changed > to the name of an occupation or a color (e.g. Gray). (Our family from > Longford is named "Creamer" I suppose they have milk cows to this day.) > David Myers > > > > > ==== IRL-LONGFORD Mailing List ==== > ~An old broom knows the dirty corners best.~ >