Bradley

An Irish surname of Antrim, Cork, Donegal, and Dublin. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 136,720 people, the 208th most common surname in the country.

Bradley 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.

Ó Broileacháin

Ó Brolcháin, descendant of Brolachán. This family stood in the barony of Clogher in Co. Tyrone, Co. Cork, Co. Derry, and Co. Mayo.

Where the name comes from

Bradley here is a disguise. Ó Brolcháin was a famous Ulster family descended from Suibhne Meann, King of Ireland in the 7th century. They were seated originally in the barony (an old land division, several parishes across) of Clogher, Co. Tyrone, removed at an early period to the neighbourhood of Derry and to Tirconnell, and a branch seems to have settled in Cork.

The name is still well known in Ulster and in Co. Mayo, but it is often absurdly anglicised Bradley, which greatly obscures the origin of this historic family. Ó Broileacháin is the same name worn down in the spoken language of Mayo.

The Giant's Causeway at twilight with wet hexagonal basalt columns stretching to the sea and long exposure blurred waves
The Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim

The Bradley counties, photographed

Antrim

The Antrim coast road runs about 25 miles between the cliffs and the sea, with nine glens coming down to it. The rock is basalt, the same flow that formed the Giant's Causeway. Scotland is 12 miles off at the narrowest point and visible on a clear day.

The iconic Dark Hedges beech tree tunnel near Armoy in County Antrim with intertwined branches forming a brooding canopyThe Dark Hedges, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Long exposure of Pan's Rock with its footbridge at dawn on the Antrim Causeway Coast, silky water and blurred clouds, Rathlin Island on the horizonPan's Rock, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim

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.

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

Donegal

Slieve League is about 600 metres from clifftop to sea, one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. Errigal is the highest mountain in the county at 751 metres, and it's quartzite, so it turns pink in low light. Glenveagh National Park covers about 16,000 hectares behind them.

Nocturne, Fanad Head, Co. DonegalNocturne, Fanad Head, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Fanad Head Lighthouse at dawn with sunrise over Inishowen, Co. Donegal, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxFanad Head at Dawn, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal St. John's Point Lighthouse standing on the headland on a bright spring day with green grass, DonegalSt. John's Point Lighthouse, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal

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

All Antrim prints · All Cork prints · All Donegal prints · All Dublin prints

Notable bearers

Omar Bradley (1893-1981), military officer and official.

James Bradley (1693-1762), university teacher and astronomer.

Michael Bradley (born 1987), association football player and association football coach.

Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930-1999), writer, novelist, and editor.

John Bradley (born 1988), actor.

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: Smith · Brown · Miller · Wilson · Anderson · Thomas · Taylor · Moore · Jackson · Martin · Lee · Thompson

How common the name was

In 1890, 135 births were registered under Bradley in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Londonderry, and Tyrone.

Ulster 89
Leinster 21
Munster 16
Connacht 9
Ireland 135

Londonderry and Tyrone are the ones I haven't worked in.