Gaelic Surnominal Place-Names in Ireland and Their Reflection in Argentina

Abstract

District-names like Casey, in Provincia de Buenos Aires, or Murphy, in Provincia de Santa Fe, are mirrored by their Irish counterparts such as Ballycasey (Baile Uí Chathasaigh, “Casey’s town”), and Ballymurphy (Baile Uí Mhurchú, “Murphy’s town”). This paper explores some of the Irish Gaelic surnames which have not only made the transfer across the Atlantic, but subsequently found themselves immortalised in Argentinian place-names. In doing so, and by examining the corpus of Irish place-names containing these surnames, it attempts to establish a connection back to the native homelands of these Gaelic families, thus contributing to the wider narrative of the Irish in Latin America.