Burke

An Irish surname of Cork, Dublin, Mayo, and Tipperary. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 122,877 people, the 246th most common surname in the country.

Burke 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.

a Búrc

de Búrc, De Búrca. This family stood in Co. Galway, Co. Limerick, Co. Mayo, and Co. Wexford.

Where the name comes from

de Búrca means of the burgh, and the family ranks with the Fitzgeralds and Butlers among the most illustrious of the Anglo-Norman settlers. They descend from William Fitz Adelm de Burgo, who accompanied Henry II to Ireland in 1171, was made governor of Wexford, and in 1178 succeeded Strongbow as chief governor. The year after that he obtained a grant of a great portion of Connacht.

By marriage with an heiress of the de Lacys, Walter de Burgo added the earldom of Ulster, and the Burkes became the greatest Anglo-Norman family in Ireland. Then in 1333 William, the Brown Earl of Ulster, was murdered leaving only an infant daughter.

What the leading men of the name did next is the interesting part. They adopted the Brehon law, which provided for a male succession, divided the lordship of Connacht between them, and proclaimed themselves Irish chiefs under the style of MacWilliam Uachtar and MacWilliam Iochtar, the Upper and Lower MacWilliam. So Irish did the Burkes of Connacht become that they were at one time regarded as mere Irish. Minor branches took the surnames MacDavid, MacPhilpin, Mac Seoinin, MacGibbon and MacRedmond from their own ancestors.

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

The Burke 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 Aerial view of the Fastnet Lighthouse surrounded by angry seas off West Cork with Cape Clear Island on the horizonThe Fastnet from the Air 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

Mayo

Achill is the largest island off the Irish coast and is joined to the mainland by a bridge. Clew Bay is full of drumlins that were drowned when the sea rose, which is where the story about an island for every day of the year comes from. Croagh Patrick stands over the south side of the bay. Mayo's population is still less than half what it was before the Famine.

Black and white view across Doo Lough towards Ben Gorm and mountains, Co. Mayo, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDoo Lough, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo Black and white view of Dun Briste sea stack from a sea cave, Co. Mayo, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún Briste from the Cave Co. Mayo Black and white lone tree standing in bogland with the Partry Mountains behind, County MayoLone Tree, Partry Mountains, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo

Tipperary

Tipperary is landlocked. The Golden Vale running through it is the best dairy land in Ireland. The Galtees are along the southern border, with Galtymore at 917 metres. The Rock of Cashel is a limestone outcrop with a medieval cathedral and round tower on top of it.

Aerial panoramic view of the Rock of Cashel at sunset, medieval towers glowing on a limestone outcrop in TipperaryThe Rock of Cashel, Tipperary Co. Tipperary Aerial vertical view of the Rock of Cashel at sunset, medieval ruins catching golden light on the Tipperary plainThe Rock of Cashel, Tipperary (vertical) Co. Tipperary

All Cork prints · All Dublin prints · All Mayo prints · All Tipperary prints

Notable bearers

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), writer, politician, and philosopher.

Tarana Burke (born 1973), teacher, feminist, and civil rights advocate.

Raymond Leo Burke (born 1948), writer, jurist, and Catholic priest.

Billie Burke (1884-1970), actor and radio personality.

Solomon Burke (1940-2010), singer, musician, and composer.

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: King · Reynolds · Ford · Hunt · Hart · Banks · May · Hopkins · Leonard · Moran · Thornton · Higgins

How common the name was

In 1890, 357 births were registered under Burke in Ireland, most of them in Cork, Dublin, Mayo, and Tipperary.

Connacht 142
Munster 107
Leinster 76
Ulster 32
Ireland 357