Warren

An Irish surname of Cork, Dublin, and Kerry. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 152,147 people, the 181st most common surname in the country.

Warren 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.

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

Ó Marannáin, Ó Marnáin

Ó Murnáin

Where the name comes from

Bharain is the Norman de Warenne: at the warren, or game-preserve, from living beside one. The name came in at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion and was not uncommon in Dublin, Meath and other parts of Ireland. In East Kerry it has been strangely re-anglicised Walsh, so the Warrens there may be called by one name in Irish and the other in English.

Near Kenmare, Warren is something else again: Ó Murnáin, more honestly Murnane, whose anglicised form has in recent years been absurdly changed to Warren.

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

The Warren 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 Inside the rotating lantern of the Fastnet Lighthouse with Fresnel lenses, ladder, and a rainbow projected on a poleInside the Lantern, the 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

Kerry

Carrauntoohil in the MacGillycuddy's Reeks is the highest mountain in Ireland at 1,038 metres. The Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas run west from it, with the Skelligs eight miles off the Iveragh coast. I ran a gallery in Killarney for years.

Moody long exposure of Coumeenoole Beach with Blasket Islands, Dingle, Kerry, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxEvening, Coumeenoole Beach, Dingle, Kerry Co. Kerry Long exposure evening light on moss-covered rocks at Coumeenoole Beach, Dingle, Kerry, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxEvening II, Coumeenoole Beach, Dingle, Kerry Co. Kerry An Searrach sea stack at night near Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland, long exposure fine art photograph by Peter CoxAn Searrach, Dingle, Co. Kerry Co. Kerry Ballaghbeama Gap mountain pass in black and white, Co. Kerry, Ireland — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxBallaghbeama Gap, Co. Kerry Co. Kerry

All Cork prints · All Dublin prints · All Kerry prints

Notable bearers

Elizabeth Warren (born 1949), writer, politician, and university teacher.

Robin Warren (1937-2024), university teacher, physician, and researcher.

Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989), writer, journalist, and novelist.

Earl Warren (1891-1974), politician, lawyer, and jurist.

Lesley Ann Warren (born 1946), actor and singer.

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: Johnson · Collins · Murphy · Howard · Coleman · Hayes · Mason · Palmer · Ryan · Lane · Franklin · Obrien

How common the name was

In 1890, 35 births were registered under Warren in Ireland, most of them in Cork, Dublin, and Kerry.

Munster 16
Leinster 13
Connacht 4
Ulster 2
Ireland 35