Date: 06/05/2024

As the month of May continues we can proceed with references in townland names (genuine or otherwise) to summer and related matters. Summerstown (#54220) and Summertown (#54238) in County Wexford are unlikely to refer to the season, rather to the surnames Somery or Somer, the first of which is well-attested among the Anglo-Norman colonists in Wexford (see Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland names in Co. Wexford p. 1613). There is also a Summerstown in Meath (#39126) which seems to be of Anglo-Norman origin, the surname Somer being recorded among the colonists in that county. However, to make matters more confusing there are at least two surnames of native Irish origin that were also anglicized as Somers, namely Ó Samhraidh (based on a mistranslation of the personal name Samhradh as Summer) and Ó Somacháin. (Note that a third surname Mac Shamhráin/McGovern “son/descendant of Samhrán” (< Samhradháin, a diminutive of Samhradh)” can also be behind anglicized Somers on occasion.) The first of these names, Ó Samhraidh, is well-attested in north Wexford and in neighbouring counties, e.g. ‘Fergenamyme O’Sawrae [Fearganainm Ó Samhraidh], Duffrie [The Duffry, in Wexford]’, recorded in 1601 in Fiant §6517, and ‘Laghlin o Sorry [Lochlainn Ó Samhraidh]’ recorded in 1643 in the Wicklow Depositions (MS 811 fol.173r). The family of Ó Samhraidh does not appear to have belonged to the professional classes of native society and their surname does not occur in any surviving townland name — as mentioned in a previous note, recent research has indicated great correlation on this point. By contrast, as the Ó Somacháin family in Sligo most certainly did enjoy professional status, it is unsurprising to find the townland and parish name Ballysumaghan < Baile Uí Shomacháin “the town(land) of Ó Somacháin” in that county. As happened with many other Irish surnames during the language shift to English, Ó Somacháin was originally directly anglicized — as Sumaghan — but then underwent a further development which totally masked its Irish roots, to Somers. In Griffith’s Valuation of Killerry parish adjoining Ballysumaghan, compiled in 1858, both of these forms Sumahan and Somers existed side by side; in the same area (the district electoral division of Ballintogher East) the Census of 1901 lists only Somers.

(Conchubhar Ó Crualaoich & Aindí Mac Giolla Chomhghaill)

• /Summerstown
• Baile Uí Shomacháin/Ballysumaghan
• Baile Somair/Summerstown
• Baile Somair/Summertown

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