What is the ethnicity of the last name Walsh?

Question

What is the ethnicity of the last name Walsh?

Answer 1

Its not a Welsh surname as such (ie not like Jones, Evans, Pugh etc) but it has links to Wales, its a name which may have been given to native Britons by the Irish or Anglo Saxon settlers.

Answer 2

Walsh

Family Name



Meaning "Welshman"

Region of origin Ireland

Related names "Walshe", "Welsh", "Brannagh", "Breathnach", "Welch"

Popularity Behind the Name  

Wikipedia articles All pages beginning with Walsh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walsh_%28su...

Answer 3

it's irish

Answer 4

from my knowledge Walsh means Welsh it's a Irish surname and a Welsh surname it has Welsh links

check out this website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walsh_(surn...

Answer 5

Surname: Walsh

This famous national locational and descriptive nickname surname derives from the pre 7th Century Olde English and Anglo-Saxon word "waelisc", meaning "foreigner" or perhaps more likely in the passage of time, "stranger". Be that as it may it is one of the ironies of history that the invaders from North Germany and even the later Vikings, should apparently refer to the people that they conquered or at least drove from their original homes, as 'The Foreigner" and even more so that the name should have stuck. The surname is popular in many areas and countries, there being a large "Walsh" contingent in Ireland, where it is the fourth most popular surname, and even a small number in France, originally in the Nantes area. The modern surname is recorded in a wide variety of spellings, including Welch, Welche, Welsh, Walsh, Walshe, Walch, and Wellish. The early surname development includes examples such as Walter Walsheman of London in 1279, Simon Welshe of Bedford in the year 1279, John Walsh of Roxburgh, Scotland, in 1330, Margery Wellis in the 1327 Pipe Rolls of the county of Essex, and Lawrence Walsh of County Mayo, Ireland in 1588. The first recorded spelling of the family name is from Ireland. This is believed to be that of Haylen Walsh, the son of Phillip the Welshman, and dated 1171.

So 'Walsh' derives from the pre 7th Century Olde English and Anglo-Saxon  word "waelisc",

meaning : "foreigner" or : "stranger". therefore the 'ethnicity', if there is such a thing, of the name Walsh, is Old English/Anglo-Saxon.

The ethnicity of the person with the last name Walsh can only be discovered by tracing the lineage of that person, there are now a great many people all over the world with the same name, but they do not share the same origin.

Answer 6

from my knowledge it means Welsh...

Answer 7

This is what www.ancestry.com has to say about the name,

Walsh Name Meaning and History

Irish: Anglicized form (translation) of Breathnach ‘Briton’. It was used in particular to denote the Welshmen who arrived in Ireland in the wake of Strongbow’s Anglo-Norman invasion of 1170.

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

Its an Irish surname, with some Welsh links!! But its very common in Ireland, its up there with Ryan and Murphy

http://www.irelandseye.com/irish/traditi...

Answer 9

The Irish surname "Walsh" was routinely given to settlers of Welsh origin, who had come during the Norman invasion.

Answer 10

It's a very common name in Ireland.