Walsh

An Irish surname of Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Mayo. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 105,079 people, the 295th most common surname in the country.

Walsh is the anglicised form of three 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

Bharain. This family stood in Co. Dublin and Co. Meath.

de Bhailéis, De Bhailís, De Bhailis, the Welshman

Where the name comes from

Walsh in its usual form is de Bhailéis, the Norman equivalent of the Irish Breathnach.

A second and stranger route runs through Kerry. That name came from residence at the warren, or game-preserve, and it came into Ireland at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion, when it was not uncommon in Dublin, Meath and other parts of Ireland. In East Kerry it has been strangely re-anglicised Walsh, so the Warrens of that locality may be called by one name in Irish and the other in English.

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

The Walsh 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

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

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

All Cork prints · All Dublin prints · All Galway prints · All Mayo prints

Notable bearers

Kate Walsh (born 1967), actor and model.

María Elena Walsh (1930-2011), writer, singer, and screenwriter.

M. Emmet Walsh (1935-2024), actor.

Raoul Walsh (1887-1980), actor, writer, and screenwriter.

Dylan Walsh (born 1963), actor.

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: Murphy · Ryan

How common the name was

In 1890, 932 births were registered under Walsh in Ireland, most of them in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Mayo, and Waterford.

Munster 388
Connacht 249
Leinster 237
Ulster 58
Ireland 932

Waterford is the one I haven't worked in.