Norman ‘son of Gerald’ — the Fitzgeralds became one of the two or three most powerful dynasties in Hiberno-Norman Ireland, Earls of both Kildare and Desmond.
The Fitzgerald certificate.
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Norman Origin · Root meaning ‘son of Gerald’
Fitzgerald comes from the Norman-French fitz (‘son of’) and the personal name Gerald, arriving with the twelfth-century invasion. Within a few generations the family split into two great lines, the Earls of Kildare and the Earls of Desmond, who between them ruled vast stretches of Leinster and Munster for centuries.
The Fitzgeralds became so thoroughly Irish that the crown that made them earls later feared and fought them as rebels — Silken Thomas's 1534 rising is the name's most famous stand.
Irish form: Mac Gearailt
