This anglicised toponym is regrettably typical of many Irish place-names from South Wexford, in that the near-complete anglicisation of much of that part of the county soon after the Anglo-Norman conquest has rendered the historical evidence opaque and difficult to analyse (see Introduction).

The earliest example, ‘Ballymachtorny’ (1), points to the presence in the precursor of the patronymic prefix mac. ‘Ballycoryn’ (2), if -c- is not a mistake or a misreading for -t-, might also be understood to reflect the lenited th /h/, following the genitive singular form mhic in final /-k/. Taken together, these two earliest forms could suggest an early Irish precursor in the shape of Baile Mhic Th-.

The spellings ‘-thorny’ (1) and ‘-tormyn’ (3) may indicate derivation from the name Tormaidh, borrowed from ‘Thormodr [Þórmóðr], a common Norse personal name’ (see SGG p.653, Ó Tormadha). ‘Ballycoryn’ (2) contradicts this and suggests that the -m- in ‘Ballytormyn’ (3), if that form is accurate, may actually represent a lenited mh /v/, subsequently lost after r (compare the loss of bh in Wexford Irish, e.g. COOLGARROW/An Chúil Gharbh, par. Templeshannon). Therefore, one could tentatively suggest the Irish name Toirbhire (see LMnG 752.1, 2) or even a gaelicised form of the Norse name Torfi as the final element. However, these suggestions are based on poorly attested, partially conflicting forms, and are possibly overly speculative. It is possible that final manuscript -ÿ has been mistaken for * ȳ* with a suspension mark and ‘expanded’ to * yn* in examples 2 and 3.

It is necessary therefore to suggest a phonetic approximation to represent the Irish precursor, Baile Tóraí. Although this could be interpreted as “the tory’s/outlaw’s/hunter’s town(land)” (cf. BPP p.33), the earlier evidence clearly points to an altogether different provenance in which the final element was probably a proper noun.

[Excerpt from Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names of County Wexford, 2016]