Barrett

An Irish surname of Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Kerry. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 100,104 people, the 314th most common surname in the country.

Barrett is the anglicised form of two distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.

Bairéid, son of Baret

Báróid, son of Baraud (a Norman form of the Teutonic Berwald). This family stood in Co. Cork.

Where the name comes from

There are two Barretts and they are not related. Bairéid is son of Baret, and Bared, Baret, Boret, Borret and Borred all occur in Domesday Book as names of persons holding land in the time of Edward the Confessor, so the name is most probably Anglo-Saxon.

These Barretts settled in Tirawley in the 13th century, where they became numerous and powerful. In later times they formed a clan after the Irish fashion, the head of which was known as Mac Bhaitín Bairéid, with sub-clans called Clann Tóimín and Clann Aindriú. A Norman family running itself as an Irish sept (a branch of a larger family group).

The other Barrett is Báróid, son of Baraud, a Norman form of the Teutonic Berwald. Those families settled at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion, were influential in Cork, and the name is still well known throughout Munster.

Rugged Atlantic coastline at Allihies, Cork, Ireland, with layered slate cliffs, fine art landscape photograph by Peter Cox
Allihies Coast, Cork

The Barrett counties, photographed

Cork

Cork is the largest county in Ireland. Three peninsulas run west into the Atlantic: Beara, Sheep's Head and Mizen, with the population thinning the further out you go. My gallery is in Glengarriff at the head of Bantry Bay, so it's the ground I photograph most.

Sunset over Dun an Oir ruins and sea stacks on Cape Clear Island, Cork, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún an Óir, Cape Clear Island, Cork Co. Cork The Fastnet Lighthouse standing proud on a calm summer evening off West Cork in black and white panoramic viewThe Fastnet Lighthouse, Co. Cork Co. Cork

Dublin

Dublin is a county as well as a city. The bay has Howth at the north end and Killiney Hill at the south, the Muglins are a pair of rocks off Dalkey, and the Dublin Mountains start about half an hour from the city centre.

Moonlight reflecting on the sea near the Muglins lighthouse off Dalkey Island, Dublin, with the Kish light on the horizonThe Muglins by Moonlight II Co. Dublin Long exposure panoramic view of the White Rock swimming platform at Killiney Bay, Dublin, floating in misty high-tide watersThe White Rock, Killiney Bay, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin Heron fishing at dawn on the Dublin coast — fine art wildlife photograph by Peter CoxHeron, Co. Dublin Co. Dublin

Galway

Connemara takes up the west of the county: the Twelve Bens, blanket bog, and fields walled off into very small squares. The Aran Islands sit at the mouth of Galway Bay. The Gaeltacht starts a few miles west of Galway city.

Enormous waves sending spray over 30-metre sea cliffs at Poll an tSeidein on Inis Meain, Aran Islands at sunsetPoll an tSéideáin, Inis Meáin, Aran Islands, Co. Galway Co. Galway The rusting Plassey shipwreck on Inis Oirr, Aran Islands, seen from above with the Atlantic Ocean beyondThe Plassey, Inis Oirr, Aran Islands, Co. Galway Co. Galway Dramatic storm waves battering tall cliffs at sunset on the west coast of Inis Meain, Aran IslandsPoll an tSéideáin Panoramic, Inis Meáin, Aran Islands, Co. Galway Co. Galway

Kerry

Carrauntoohil in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks is the highest mountain in Ireland at 1,038 metres. The Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas run west from it, with the Skelligs eight miles off the Iveragh coast. I ran a gallery in Killarney for years.

Moody long exposure of Coumeenoole Beach with Blasket Islands, Dingle, Kerry, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxEvening, Coumeenoole Beach, Dingle, Kerry Co. Kerry Long exposure evening light on moss-covered rocks at Coumeenoole Beach, Dingle, Kerry, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxEvening II, Coumeenoole Beach, Dingle, Kerry Co. Kerry An Searrach sea stack at night near Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland, long exposure fine art photograph by Peter CoxAn Searrach, Dingle, Co. Kerry Co. Kerry

All Cork prints · All Dublin prints · All Galway prints · All Kerry prints

Notable bearers

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), writer, screenwriter, and poet.

Syd Barrett (1946-2006), singer, singer-songwriter, and guitarist.

Amy Coney Barrett (born 1972), university teacher, lawyer, and jurist.

Majel Barrett (1932-2008), actor, film producer, and television producer.

Jacinda Barrett (born 1972), actor and model.

About this page

The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.

More Irish surnames: Johnson · Collins · Murphy · Howard · Coleman · Hayes · Mason · Palmer · Warren · Ryan · Lane · Franklin

How common the name was

In 1890, 146 births were registered under Barrett in Ireland, most of them in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, and Limerick.

Munster 74
Connacht 44
Leinster 17
Ulster 11
Ireland 146

Limerick is the one I haven't worked in.