Do you know any towns in ireland that you know where the name came from ?

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barbara b

well I'm from Dublin, and the name derives from the Gaelic Dubh (black) Linn (pool), it got its name from where the dodder river meets the liffey, causing a black pool...

I was in Belfast in October and did the bus tour, and according to the tour guide Belfast got its name from the Gaelic, 'mouth of the feiste river' , beal meaning mouth in Gaelic, so beal feist..belfast.

Baile , means town of, so I grew up in Ballyfermot, so that translates as town of fermot.

murnip

Cork: Corcaigh in Irish, which means "marsh", because it was built on a marsh.
Waterford: comes from the Norse word Vedrarfjord meaning "windy fjord".
Kildare: From the Irish Cill Dara, meaning "church of the oak".
Cashel: from the Irish Caiseal Mumhan, meaning "stone fortress of Munster", because of the large area of exposed limestone upon which many forts and castles have been built over the centuries.
Youghal: from the Irish Eochaill meaning "yew woods", because there used to be many of these in the area.

Nubar Gulbenkian

Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry. "Cahir" means stone fort and "civeen" is an Anglicisation of "Sibheen" which means "little Sarah", so the whole means Little Sarah's stone fort.
Ballyduff, Co. Kerry. "Bally" is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic, "Baile" ( pronounced barlya) which means town and duff is an anglicisation of "dubh" (dove) which means black, so the whole means Blacktown.
Dublin is the Anglicisation of Dubh and Linn and mean Black Pool. That's all that I can think of without straining my brain.

greenorlagh

Limavady = Leamh na Vaddagh - means Leap of the Dog and comes from an old legend about a local chieftain and his hunting dog crossing the river.

Dungiven - Means Castle of Given

Dublin - means black pool

Derry = Doire means line of the Oaks

Ballycastle = Town of the castle

stevie

Dublin- from Dubh linn meaning black pool because there is an underground lake under the city.
Kilkenny- Cill Chainnigh which means the cell of Cainnis who was a saint who settled there.
Tyrone- TÃrEoghain means Eoghan's county
most place names were named for forts (such as places with dÃºn or Ã¡th in their name) in the area

Orla C

Most of the names of towns in Ireland are actually anglicised forms of descriptions of the place or the predominant family in the area in the Irish language.

Anglicised: Clonmel. Original Irish: Cluain Meala. Translates as Valley of honey.

Likewise:
Cork - Corcaigh - Marshy place
Kilkenny - Cill Cheannaigh - Church of Saint Canice
Ballyneale - Baile Ui Neill - townland of the O'Neill Family
Oola - Ulla - Apples (lots of orchards in the area long ago)
Labbasheeda - Leaba na si - Bed of the fairies (which probably sounds hysterical to modern ears. However, here, we're talking about fairies in the original sense, as in supernatural creatures).
Derry - Doire - Oak tree
Carrick-on-Suir - Carraig na tSiuire - Rock on the River Suir.
Dungarvan - Dun Garbhan - Sandy fortress
Tralee - Tra Liath - Grey strand
Hope this helps.

snohoney2

athenry in co. galway
in irish it's Ã¡th an rÃ because ath is the irish for ford (an crossing in a river) and rÃ is the irish for king & athenry happened to have a ford where 3 kingdoms meet.....
Kiltullagh (again in Co. Galway) is Cill Tulach, which is the Church on the Hill which is still present there today....

Martina L

Kilkenny - Cill Chainnigh (Gaelic)= Church of St.Canice
Waterford - Vadra Fjord (old Norse) = windy fjord
Cork - Corcaigh (Gaelic) = swamp
Midleton (Co.Cork) - Mainistir na Corann (Gaelic) = Monastery of the choir
Tramore (Co.Waterford) - Tra Mor (Gaelic) = big strand
Carlow - Ceatharlach (Gaelic) = Four lakes
Clonmel (Co.Tipperary) - Cluan Meala (Gaelic) = honey field
Cashel (Co. Tipperary) - An Caisleann (Gaelic) = the castle
Killarney (Co. Kerry) - Cill Airne(Gaelic) = the church of the sloe

bobdcow

Tralee was stated above ag grey strand, I'd like to disagree because the river lee runs through Tralee (not to be confused with the Lee in Cork) So Tralee come from Strand of the Lee

eorpach_agus_eireannach

These are examples of towns from every province in Ireland

English Name - Irish Source - English Translation

Roscommon - Ros Comain - Wood of Coman (Coman was a saint from the area)

Dublin - Dubh Linn - Black Pool

Elphin - Ail Finn - Rock of the Clear Spring

Athlone - Ãtha Luain - Ford(Watercrossing) of Luan

Navan - An Uaimh - The Cave

Galway - Gaillimh - Stony, referring to the stony river the city sits on.

Cashel - Caiseal - Stone Fortress

Belfast - BÃ©al Feirste - Sandy Ford at the River's Mouth

Derry - Doire - Oak

Tramore - TrÃ¡ MÃ³r - Large Beach

The Grumble Toad

Adamstown in Dublin was named after Sean Adams, a shady developer who gave out a few brown envelopes to poor anorak wearing men who had to buy their own tea.

There is a town in Donegal called Muff, but I don't know if you are old enough to hear the origins of that! I always hoped that it could be twinned with Dildo, Newfoundland.

Is mÃ¡ith liom cÃ¡ca millÃs!

Ballinasloe= BÃ©al AthÃ¡ na Slua= mouth of the crowd, it is on a river and is a crossing point for the river, hence everybody came to cross the river.

monster

abbots cross it came from the vikings

lavery7

belfast was named after king william and his horse who was named bell. whom it was said while riding through belfast and was lookin the horse to go faster was heard to shout at the horse bel-fast. so they say any way

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