White

An Irish surname of Antrim, Cork, Dublin, and Wexford. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 660,491 people, the 24th most common surname in the country.

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

Bán

de Faoit, De Faoite

Mac Giolla Bháin, son of Giolla bán (white, or fair youth). This family stood in Co. Sligo.

Ó Banáin, descendant of Banán (a diminutive of bán , white). This family stood in Co. Fermanagh and Co. Mayo.

Ó Gealagáin, descendant of Gealagán (diminutive of geal , bright, white). This family stood in Co. Sligo.

Where the name comes from

de Faoit is the Norman le White: the white, of fair complexion. That Anglo-Norman family came at the time of the invasion, and there are several respectable families of the name, which is common in all parts of Ireland.

The rest are translations. Mac Giolla Bháin, son of the white or fair youth, belonged to a family of the Ui Fiachrach in Co. Sligo who formerly possessed the townland of Lisnarawer in the parish of Dromard; the family was still in that neighbourhood when it was last looked for, but the name was always made White in English. It is a Scottish surname too, usually anglicised MacIlvaine.

Ó Banáin, descendant of a little white one, from bán, covers several distinct families, the best known and most numerous being that of Ely O'Carroll in the present Offaly, with others in Mayo and Fermanagh. Ó Gealagáin, from geal, bright or white, was originally a Sligo surname long dispersed through the south. And Bán on its own is simply the Irish for fair or white, an epithet which supplanted the real surname.

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 White 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

Wexford

Wexford gets more sunshine than anywhere else in Ireland. Hook Head lighthouse has been working since the thirteenth century, which makes it one of the oldest in the world. The beaches on that coast, Curracloe and Rosslare among them, run for miles and are mostly empty.

Hook Lighthouse beam reflecting across calm waters at dusk, Co. Wexford — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxHook Lighthouse at Dusk, Wexford Co. Wexford Black and white panoramic of Hook Head lighthouse and wild sea under brooding skies, Co. Wexford — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxHook Head, Co. Wexford Co. Wexford Moonrise, Tramore, Co. WexfordMoonrise, Tramore, Co. Wexford Co. Wexford

All Antrim prints · All Cork prints · All Dublin prints · All Wexford prints

Notable bearers

Patrick White (1912-1990), writer, screenwriter, and novelist.

Betty White (1922-2021), actor, singer, and model.

Ellen G. White (1827-1915), writer and missionary.

Barry White (1944-2003), actor, singer, and musician.

David A. R. White (born 1970), actor, writer, and screenwriter.

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, 291 births were registered under White in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Cork, Dublin, and Wexford.

Ulster 94
Munster 91
Leinster 82
Connacht 24
Ireland 291