Ó Meadhra is a Gaelic-Irish surname. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Mearas were one of the chiefly families of the Dal gCais or Dalcassians who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC.[1]
Overview edit
The Ó Meadhra clan were a sept of the Dal gCais, and the name is most common in the dynasty's homeland of north-east Thomond (presently County Tipperary and the adjoining parts of County Clare). The family seat was Toomevara (O'Meara's tumulus).[2]
Members of the family were physicians and poets to the Earl of Ormond. The last Gaelic-era Chief of the Name was Domhnall Ó Meadhra.[citation needed]
Ó Meadhra was Anglicized as O'Meara and O'Mara, both of which may not necessarily have an "O'" prefix.[2]
People edit
See also edit
- Pre-Norman invasion Irish Celtic kinship groups, from whom many of the modern Irish surnames came from
References edit
- ^ Cairney, C. Thomas (1989). Clans and Families of Ireland and Scotland. Jefferson, North Carolina, United States, and London: McFarland & Company. pp. 61–69. ISBN 0899503624.
- ^ a b Woulfe, Patrick (1923). "Ó Meadhra - Irish Names and Surnames". www.libraryireland.com.
- O'Meara : the descendants of three sons of Ireland, John, Patrick and Michael, who came to New Zealand and settled in Southland and Masterton, John F. Tourelle, Annabelle O'Meara Ltd., Arrowtown, New Zealand, 1998 (National Library of New Zealand P q929.2 OME TOU 1998)
- A historical profile of the O'Meara, O'Mara family: the Dalcassians of Ireland, Irish Families Historical Society, New Jersey, 1993 (Library of Congress CS499 .O62 1993)