Wallace

An Irish surname of Antrim, Cork, Dublin, and Galway. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 197,276 people, the 123rd most common surname in the country.

Wallace 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.

Bhailís

de Bhailéis, De Bhailís, De Bhailis, the Welshman

Where the name comes from

de Bhailís means the Welshman, and it is the Norman equivalent of the Irish Breathnach. le Waleys, le Waleis and the Walish are the older spellings, and Wallis, Wallace and Walsh are all the same word.

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 Wallace 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

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

All Antrim prints · All Cork prints · All Dublin prints · All Galway prints

Notable bearers

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), writer, mathematician, and botanist.

William Wallace (1270-1305), freedom fighter, military leader, and knight.

Henry A. Wallace (1888-1965), writer, politician, and horticulturist.

Edgar Wallace (1875-1932), writer, screenwriter, and journalist.

David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), writer, university teacher, and novelist.

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, 144 births were registered under Wallace in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Cork, Down, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, and Londonderry.

Ulster 80
Munster 26
Connacht 21
Leinster 17
Ireland 144

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