Why are there a lot of surnames indigenous to the coastal areas of Counties Sligo and Mayo so French sounding?

Question

I'm thinking of traditional surnames associated with those areas of Ireland like LaVelle, Reville, Maye, Marren, Costello, Deveraux, Henri, Gascoigne, Dupree, etc.. These very French sounding surnames seem especially predominant in Western Sligo and North-eastern Mayo. Any ideas why?

Answer 1

haven't a clue, but very interesting

Answer 2

I know all those names, my mother was from Mayo.

I think it's because of trade between the West of Ireland and France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco from the early Middle Ages up to today. It suited merchants from those countries to set up house in Ireland also, and often their sons would stay in Ireland to keep up the trade, hence the names.

Also, those countries were very hard on religious groups like the Jews and the Hugenots, so many of these moved to the west of Ireland, where they would be reasonably safe from persecution. Eventually those religious minorities became assimilated into the Catholic culture. Not all of these foreign names were originally Jewish or Hugenot, however. But it's not uncommon to have Jewish ancestry in the west of Ireland.

The name Costello is quite possibly a corruption of Castellian, which is a part of Spain.

Answer 3

I seem to recall that the French gave aid to the Irish in the struggle to rid ourselves of the invader, try looking up Wolfe Tone perhaps.  the old song went "The French are in the bay said the sean bhean bhoct" they must have given more than military aid I think.

Answer 4

Norman Invasion..

Answer 5

Following the Battle of Hasting In 1066 the Duke of Normandy, in north-west France, became the King of England. From the mid 12th century on, Norman-French invaders began to arrive in Ireland.  They eventually intermarried with the Irish and about 10% of all names found in Ireland date from this time.  More examples are; names beginning with 'Fitz',  Molyneux, Dillon, Hussey, Petitt, Taaffe, Tuite and Tyrrell.

Answer 6

The only irish ones ive ever heard of are Costello & Deveraux. Where have you heard the others?