Do a lot of Scottish/Irish people have english surnames?

Question

Do a lot of Scottish/Irish people have english surnames?

Answer 1

The countries were/are part of England. Look into the history.

In Britain, hereditary surnames were adopted in the 13th and 14th centuries, initially by the aristocracy but eventually by everyone. By 1400, most English and Scottish people had acquired surnames, but many Highland Scots and Welsh people did not adopt surnames until the 17th century, or even later.

Most surnames of British origin fall into seven types:

Occupations (e.g., Smith, Sawyer, Clark, Cooper, Cook, Carpenter, Archer, Baker, Dyer, Walker, Woodman, Taylor, Knight)

Personal characteristics (e.g., Short, Brown, Whitehead, Long)

Geographical features (e.g., Hill, Lee, Wood, Fields, Morley—Old English for mōr lēah = marsh in the woodland clearing)

Place names (e.g., Washington, London, Hamilton, Sutton, Flint, Laughton)

For those descended from land-owners, the name of their holdings, manor or estate (the name Washington can also fall into this category, Old English components Hwæssa-inga-tūn "estate of the descendants of Wassa)

Patronymics, Matronymics or ancestral, often from a person's given name (e.g., from male name: Richardson, Williams, Johnson or female names Molson (from Moll for Mary), Madison (from Magdalen or Madeline), Emmott (from Emma), Marriott (from Mary)) or from a clan name (for those of Scottish origin, e.g., MacDonald, Forbes) with "Mac" Scottish Gaelic for son.

Patronal, from patronage (Hickman meaning Hick's man, where Hick is a pet form of the name Richard) or strong ties of religion Kilpatrick (follower of Patrick) or Kilbride (follower of Bridget).

The original meaning of the name may no longer be obvious in modern English (e.g., a Cooper is one who makes barrels, and the name Tillotson is a matronymic from a diminutive for Matilda). A much smaller category of names relates to religion, though some of this category are also occupations. The names Bishop, Priest, or Abbot, for example, may indicate that an ancestor worked for a bishop, a priest, or an abbot, respectively, or possibly took such a role in a popular religious play (see pageant play).

Answer 2

There were Norman English that settled Ireland and even though they were forbidden to adopt Irish language and customs the old saying is they became more Irish than the Irish themselves.  Many intermarried with other Irish.  Names like Butler, Burke  etc comes from the Norman conquest of Ireland.  

There was a Scottish plantation during the Elilzabethan period in Northern Ireland and later another English invasion during the Cromwellian period but religion differences kept them apart from the native Irish.

Answer 3

There's no short answer to that.

Here is an excellent site that shows the transformation

of Irish Surnames

Researching Irish Names

http://www.rootsweb.com/~fianna/surname/

Answer 4

I don't think so. I live in Dublin and most people I know have Irish surnames. A few people I know have surnames of English/Scottish/French/Italian origin. There is a good mix, I wouldn't say one is more common than the other. With the influx of migrants from Eastern Europe I think we will see Polish/Lithuanian/Latvian etc surnames becoming more prevelant.

Answer 5

Maybe, but then a lot of English people have Scottish surnames, which would suggest some sort of Scottish connection in the past.

Answer 6

The Scots came from Ireland originally, so there is a similarity between names. McDonald  MacDonald etc

Normans did invade and settle taking their names to Ireland.

There has always been free passage between the countries of Britain, so there will be an overlap of names.

In Ireland the Plantation Acts, made by Parliament were designed to help the Irish farm more productively, so English people were sent out there to set up plantations using Irish farmers. As you can guess all this meant was the English people were handed Land and workers on a plate!

The English surnames of these people survive there.

Once a couple have generations go by it is hard to tell wheteher someone with an Englis h surname is English or Scots or Irish as they will talk with the accent.

There are now lots of Indian and West Indian people in Britain who speak with Scots, Irish, Northern and Midlands accents!