Irish Last Names Beginning With C (With Meanings)

Are you interested in the origins and meaning of an Irish last name that begins with C?

This article lists over one hundred Irish surnames that had birth registrations in early 20^th century Ireland and also appear in the 2010 American census.

We’ll also give the origins and meanings of the most popular names.

Most Common Irish Surnames Starting With C

Let’s start with Irish names that had at least twenty-five thousand bearers in the U.S. census.

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Coleman	958	219,070
Carroll	3,208	134,317
Carr	762	119,076
Cannon	361	71,085
Casey	2,111	66,556
Carey	1,169	56,322
Conway	1,233	44,320
Coffey	864	36,423
Carney	398	32,897
Costello	1,119	32,043
Crowley	1,224	31,098
Connolly	2,454	29,710
Connor	1,427	29,346
Cassidy	817	26,590

Why take Irish birth registrations from 1923 to 1932?

The second column is the number of Irish birth registrations over a ten-year span starting in 1923.

The reason I chose that start date was that the Republic of Ireland was established the previous year. Starting in 1923 excluded birth locations in Northern Ireland.

Otherwise, the number of English and Scottish names would take longer to filter out of this list.

Origins And Meanings Of Irish Surnames Starting With C

Let’s run through the origins and meanings of these top names.

I’ve grouped them separately to how I ordered them by number in the list above. I’ve tried to put names with similar meanings and origins together.

If you would like to hear pronunciations of the Gaelic names mentioned below, they are in this quick video in the order of where they appear in this article.

Coleman

This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Colmáin. I explain “Anglicization” more fully in a later section.

Here, I’ll simply say that it’s a way of taking an old Gaelic surname and turning it into a name that sounds or seems English.

The “Ó” in Ó Colmáin means “descendant of”, so this name means the descendant of Colmán.

But who was Colman? Saint Columbanus (AD 513-615) was an Irish missionary who founded several monasteries in France and Italy.

Carroll

This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic names Mac Cearbhaill or Ó Cearbhaill. “Mac” means son and we’ve already mentioned that “Ó” means a descendant.

Several different clans took this name. One was based in the kingdom of Éile, a territory with lands in what is now Tipperary and Offaly.

Cearbhall, the king of Éile in the early 11^th century, led his clan in the Battle Of Clontarf in 1014.

Carr

This is an Anglicized form of several different Gaelic names. I’ll go with Ó Carra here, the descendants of Carra.

The meaning refers to a spear.

Cannon

This is one of those names that have different origins depending on the region.IItsprevalence in the United States may be due to the English name.

The Irish name is an Anglicization of the Gaelic name Ó Canann, or descendant of Cano.

The meaning of Cano comes from the Irish word for a wolf cub (cano).

Casey

This is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Ó Cathasaigh, or descendant of Cathasach.

The meaning comes from the Irish word for vigilance.

Carey

This is a name that has different origins depending on the region e.g. England or Wales.

The Irish name comes from the Gaelic name Ó Ciardha. The meaning comes from the Irish word for dark or swarthy (ciar).

Conway

Several different Gaelic names were Anglicized to Conway.

Two are based on the Irish word for a hound (con).

The Gaelic name Mac Conmidhe also gets Anglicized to McNamee, and this is what it sounds like. The meaning is “son of the hound of Meath”.

The Gaelic name Mac Conbuide also gets Anglicized to Conboy. The meaning of this name is “son of the yellow hound”.

Connolly

This is another name where the meaning of the starting syllable comes from the Irish word for a hound (con).

Connolly is the Anglicization of the Gaelic name Ó Conghaile, descendant of Conghal.

The meaning comes from the words for hound and for valiant (ghal). So, this is a descendant of the valiant hound.

Coffey

This name is an Anglicized form of several different Gaelic names.

To understand the meaning, sound out the first syllable without the “ff”. The Irish worth “cath” sounds like that (i.e. no consonant at the end of the sound), and it means a battle.

The second syllable in the Gaelic names can mean very different things:

• Ó Cathbhadha: battle tent
• Ó Cathbhuadhaigh: battle victorious
• Ó Cathmhogha: battle slave

Carney

This is a variant of Kearney.

Both names come from the Gaelic name Ó Cearnaigh, or descendants of Cearnach.

The meaning comes from the Irish word for victorious.

Costello

This is the English form of the Gaelic name Mac Oisdealbhaigh, or son of Oisdealbhach.

The meaning comes from the Irish words for a fawn (oisín) and for “seeming like” (dealbhach). In other words, resembling a fawn (small deer).

Crowley

This is an Anglicization of the Gaelic name Ó Cruadhlaoich, or descendant of Cruadhlaoch.

The meaning comes from the Irish words for tough (cruadh) and for hero (laoch).

Connor (or O’Connor)

Connor is the shortened variant of O’Connor. Both names comes from the Gaelic name Ó Conchobhair, or descendant of Conchobhar.

Conchobhar is a personal name held by several different kings in Ulster and Connacht. Conchobhar mac Donnchada was a High King of Ireland in the early ninth century.

This is one of the most common names in Ireland. There were several powerful families across the land with this name.

Cassidy

This comes from the Gaelic name Ó Caiside, or descendant of Caiside.

The meaning comes from the word for curly-haired.

Curran

We’ve squeezed this one in as it had 24,969 bearers in the 2010 U.S. census, which is just below our 25K threshold.

Curran is an Anglicization of the Gaelic name Ó Corráin.

The syllable at the end makes this a diminutive of the word “corradh”, which refers to a spear.

More About The Anglicization Of Irish Surnames

You’ll find it easier to understand how Irish families changed their names with a bit more background.

The use of surnames in Ireland dates back to the tenth century. Children adopted the first name of their father and prefixed it with “Mac” or “O”, which means “son” and “descendent of”.

These names were in the Gaelic language.

In later centuries when Ireland was under British rule, the use of the Gaelic language was curbed.

This led to the Irish making their names look and sound more English i.e. Anglicization.

The simplest way was to drop the O and Mac in front of a name.

Another way was to pick the nearest sounding English name.

The third way was to pick an English name that has the same meaning as the Gaelic name. The two names may sound completely different.

Other Irish Last Names From 1923 To 1932

We’ve gone in detail into the meanings and origins of the most common Irish names in America.

Here is a summary of the rest of the names ordered by the numbers in the 2010 U.S. census.

10,000-25,000 bearers

The top name in this section is a variant of Connolly, which we covered earlier.

Connors is a variant of O’Connor or Connor, which we also covered.

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Connelly	197	23,398
Connell	845	22,552
Cahill	1,289	20,623
Cullen	1,588	20,000
Coyle	698	19,931
Connors	542	19,637
Cody	174	19,600
Cronin	1,631	19,078
Corley	101	17,931
Corcoran	1,140	17,607
Conroy	897	16,651
Clinton	232	16,263
Cleary	1,197	15,980
Craven	72	15,567
Coughlin	62	14,434
Coy	23	13,875
Condon	548	13,109
Clancy	826	12,556
Cooney	767	12,455
Curley	352	12,211
Carlin	59	12,035
Cotter	566	11,904
Coyne	646	11,525
Corrigan	590	11,396

4,000 to 10,000 bearers in the census

Some of these names are variants of more common names in Ireland. For example, Coen in Ireland can be a variant of Cowan.

I’m not suggesting that the numbers in the 2010 U.S. census come from Irish descent. Coen is also a name that has different origins in other regions.

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Curtin	594	9,513
Canty	100	8,047
Conlon	651	7,845
Cantwell	218	6,635
Carty	419	6,332
Carrigan	71	6,290
Coffee	4	6,223
Callaghan	1,113	6,191
Coakley	199	6,127
Carmody	247	5,688
Crone	22	5,555
Cawley	254	5,451
Cashman	210	5,219
Cairns	26	5,192
Carley	67	4,880
Creed	78	4,718
Callan	288	4,531
Cauley	10	4,491
Coen	185	4,400
Clare	76	4,309
Coss	28	4,156
Cavanagh	197	4,086
Canning	226	4,033

From 2,000 to 4,000 bearers in the 2010 census

Colman, at the top of this list, is a variant of Coleman. We covered the latter name in detail in an earlier section.

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Colman	19	3,916
Conwell	18	3,839
Crotty	234	3,726
Cusack	448	3,704
Colgan	255	3,651
Collum	29	3,568
Culley	27	3,522
Canavan	259	3,290
Callen	22	3,190
Crosson	8	3,085
Caffrey	339	3,062
Corr	191	3,045
Corry	136	2,819
Considine	206	2,808
Coogan	217	2,748
Comerford	322	2,722
Cray	4	2,719
Crimmins	31	2,661
Coady	192	2,494
Carolan	466	2,468
Costigan	104	2,463
Connally	32	2,451
Callanan	270	2,418
Cullinan	185	2,292
Concannon	177	2,277
Cronan	12	2,215
Cuddy	50	2,193
Conlan	175	2,141
Conboy	112	2,115
Culhane	132	2,076

From 1,000 to 2,000 bearers

Cambridge is a name in this list that may seem very English (with its association with the town and university).

But the Irish name is a phonetic Anglicization of Mac Ambróis.

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Coghlan	217	1,856
Cashin	121	1,854
Coughlan	812	1,798
Connery	74	1,695
Cambridge	24	1,602
Comiskey	84	1,559
Condron	198	1,472
Clyne	75	1,467
Corkery	122	1,433
Clune	83	1,402
Convery	5	1,391
Creedon	168	1,385
Crean	213	1,344
Cully	96	1,337
Cullinane	300	1,336
Croghan	57	1,273
Craney	2	1,233
Culligan	66	1,222
Coman	11	1,221
Crossan	72	1,191
Connaughton	209	1,151
Claffey	131	1,059

Seven hundred to one thousand bearers

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Cogley	29	980
Cashen	31	979
Clinch	38	971
Conry	90	938
Casserly	132	929
Crilly	44	926
Cloonan	56	907
Cadden	33	889
Cavey	8	856
Collopy	60	853
Colleran	33	852
Canney	31	846
Calnan	61	833
Carraher	18	827
Cryan	101	812
Creegan	31	792
Callery	68	782
Carvin	3	762
Conaty	82	749
Connick	29	746
Canny	84	734
Cregan	123	733
Carry	61	723
Cahalan	43	721
Culkin	30	716
Cush	16	712

Five hundred to seven hundred bearers

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Creagh	85	678
Cummiskey	8	668
Cagney	73	658
Carrig	14	644
Cuffe	109	643
Cafferty	28	639
Clavin	60	637
Cormican	26	628
Counihan	89	626
Cromie	13	624
Crehan	100	619
Culliton	33	613
Coonan	42	601
Calvey	54	592
Clerkin	124	590
Colfer	83	538
Cremin	215	529
Coone	9	504
Callinan	105	502
Cunnane	101	500

Two hundred to five hundred bearers

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Carrigg	4	492
Carragher	55	491
Cuddihy	112	482
Caslin	26	449
Cosgrave	196	441
Cunneen	40	428
Conneely	565	403
Culleton	131	397
Condren	38	386
Cloherty	51	382
Cahalane	98	364
Cullivan	35	364
Convey	30	358
Cunniffe	122	341
Cloney	20	339
Crummey	2	337
Clohessy	84	333
Cremins	19	321
Cashell	19	310
Clynes	28	304
Conmy	20	297
Caden	17	280
Clooney	48	276
Crahan	6	256
Camlin	1	255
Clabby	25	255
Cribbin	48	253
Carthy	298	234
Christle	7	232
Cashel	4	230
Creevy	18	226
Corboy	19	224
Cantillon	84	217
Cumiskey	100	216
Costelloe	344	215
Cowhig	22	202

One hundred to two hundred bearers

Name	Irish Births 1923-32	2010  Census
Clougher	2	192
Corish	38	187
Carolin	11	178
Cahillane	70	173
Currid	60	172
Cranny	63	160
Cornyn	28	156
Cafferky	69	153
Clery	74	153
Colly	1	148
Creaney	1	140
Carstairs	7	129
Cahir	24	127
Creaven	53	125
Carabine	10	124
Colhoun	37	123
Clynch	21	119
Connellan	20	118
Currivan	8	118
Caplice	5	116
Crinion	14	116
Crinnion	10	116
Corbally	54	110
Confrey	14	108
Colohan	21	107
Croly	10	103
Cunnion	14	102

Sources

• Irish Civil Birth Registrations
• Irish Names and Surnames by Reverend Patrick Woulfe
• Dictionary of American Family Names by Patrick Hanks