A name that looks Norman and isn't — Mac Giolla Phádraig, ‘son of the servant of Patrick’, chiefs of Ossory, wholly Gaelic despite the fitz.
Gaelic Origin · Root meaning ‘son of the servant of Patrick’
Fitzpatrick is the odd one out on this list: despite the Norman-looking fitz, it's a direct translation of the fully Gaelic Mac Giolla Phádraig, ‘son of the devotee of St Patrick’. The family were chiefs of Upper Ossory, in what is now County Laois, right through the medieval period.
A name that wears a Norman disguise it never needed — the fitz was borrowed for convenience, but the blood behind it never left Ossory.
Irish form: Mac Giolla Phádraig
