Campbell

An Irish surname of Antrim and Donegal. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 386,157 people, the 47th most common surname in the country.

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

Caimbéal

Mac Cailín, son of Cailín (the Scottish Colin)

Mac Callanáin, son of Callanán

Mac Cathmhaoil. This family stood in the barony of Clogher in Co. Tyrone, Co. Down, Co. Fermanagh, and Co. Wicklow.

Where the name comes from

Campbell is an insult that stuck. Caimbéal is cam and béal, wry-mouthed, originally an epithet which in course of time supplanted the real surname. It is not from the Norman de Campobello, as some have imagined. The original surname is said to have been Ó Duibhne.

Sir Colin Mór Caimbéal, lord of Lochawe, was knighted by Alexander III and was seventh in descent from Duibhne. The Duke of Argyll still derives from him the title of Mac Cailean Mór by which he is known in the Highlands. The Campbells were long the most formidable of the Scottish clans.

Here the name often covers something else entirely. Mac Cathmhaoil, son of the battle-chief, descends from Eoghan, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and its people were for many centuries powerful chiefs in Tyrone; their patrimony (the land a family held by inheritance) was Kinel Farry, now the barony (an old land division, several parishes across) of Clogher. A branch who settled in Co. Wicklow changed the name to Caulfield. This fine old name is now often sadly disguised.

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 Campbell 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 Sunrise over Colliery Bay with Fair Head cliffs and mountains, Co. Antrim, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxColliery Bay & Fair Head, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Dunluce Castle on coastal cliffs with long exposure sea, Co. Antrim, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDunluce Castle, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Black and white photograph of a rainstorm sweeping across the Skerries islands off the North Antrim coast near PortrushRainstorm, the Skerries, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim

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 Tory Island Lighthouse beam sweeping through hazy night air on both sides of the tower in a long exposure on the Donegal coastNocturne, Tory Island Lighthouse, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Intense double rainbow arching across the sky over green mountains near Glencolmcille in County DonegalRainbow, Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Black and white view of Glengesh Pass with a winding road through rolling hills, Co. Donegal — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxGlengesh Pass, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal

All Antrim prints · All Donegal prints

Notable bearers

Naomi Campbell (born 1970), actor, singer, and musician.

Kim Campbell (born 1947), politician, lawyer, and autobiographer.

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), writer, athletics competitor, and historian.

Neve Campbell (born 1973), actor, screenwriter, and film producer.

William C. Campbell (born 1930), university teacher, chemist, and biochemist.

This name is borne widely in Britain as well as Ireland. What follows is where it was found in Ireland, not a claim that every family carrying it came from here.

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, 349 births were registered under Campbell in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Armagh, Donegal, Down, Londonderry, and Tyrone.

Ulster 279
Leinster 39
Connacht 23
Munster 8
Ireland 349

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