Parsons

An Irish surname of Connacht. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 67,310 people, the 498th most common surname in the country.

Mac An Phearsúin, Mac An Phearsain

Where the name comes from

Parsons is a scattered surname. Many of the name in Ireland are, no doubt, descended from the famous Highland clan Mac an Phearsain.

Enormous waves sending spray over 30-metre sea cliffs at Poll an tSeidein on Inis Meain, Aran Islands at sunset
Poll an tSéideáin, Inis Meáin, Aran Islands, Co. Galway

Connacht, photographed

Photographs made in Connacht.

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.

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 Turf drying at sunset with Connemara mountains in the background, Co. Galway, Ireland, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxConnemara Turf, Co. Galway Co. Galway

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 Black and white long exposure of Dun Briste sea stack at Downpatrick Head, Co. Mayo, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún Briste, Downpatrick Head, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo

Sligo

Benbulben is a limestone plateau with its sides cut away by ice, standing flat-topped over the plain. Knocknarea has a cairn on top, thought to be a passage tomb and never excavated. Strandhill and Mullaghmore get some of the biggest surf in Europe. Yeats is buried at Drumcliffe below Benbulben.

Mullaghmore, Co. SligoMullaghmore, Co. Sligo Co. Sligo Ruined cottage on a blustery day in the Ox Mountains, Co. Sligo, Ireland, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxCottage, Ox Mountains, Co. Sligo Co. Sligo Aerial view of a stream winding across a beach to the sea, Co. Sligo, Ireland — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxBeach Detail, Co. Sligo Co. Sligo Benbulben mountain bathed in sunset light, Co. Sligo, Ireland — fine art aerial landscape photograph by Peter CoxBenbulben, Co. Sligo Co. Sligo

All Galway prints · All Mayo prints · All Sligo prints

Notable bearers

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979), university teacher, sociologist, and biologist.

Alan Parsons (born 1948), singer, musician, and composer.

Charles Algernon Parsons (1854-1931), businessperson, engineer, and inventor.

William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800-1867), politician and astronomer.

Estelle Parsons (born 1927), actor, singer, and screenwriter.

No county is recorded for this name, so this page works from the province the figures point to rather than a single place.

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: Leonard

How common the name was

In 1890, 12 births were registered under Parsons in Ireland and no county is recorded for it. Connacht holds 58 per cent of that total, which is where this page looks.

Connacht 7
Leinster 3
Munster 1
Ulster 1
Ireland 12