An honest double root: Ó Laighin in Galway and Cork, and a separate Anglo-Norman de Lyons family who settled Kildare, taking their name from the French city.
Mixed Origin · Root meaning uncertain (Gaelic) or ‘from Lyons, France’ (Norman)
Lyons carries two unconnected histories. As Ó Laighin, it belongs to Gaelic septs in Galway and Cork whose exact root meaning isn't settled. As de Lyons, it names an Anglo-Norman family who arrived with the invasion and took their name from Lyons, the French city, settling in County Kildare.
A Gaelic sept and a Norman house, sharing nothing but a spelling — which, honestly, describes half the surnames on this island.
Irish form: Ó Laighin
