Can Harris be an Irish name?

Answer 1

Harris is a well established name in Ireland. The name is found most often coming from County Mayo. Harris in Ireland was anglicized from Gaelic Ó hEarchadha.

:Certainly Harris is an English and not an Irish name but there are numerous possible explanations for this. Your father might have been Irish on his mother's side. Also you might have simply had an English ancestor who left male descendants in Ireland.

If you look up Fitzharris on the net you may gain a clue towards understanding why Harris can be an Irish name. Fitzharris (which is the name of my Irish ancestors) dates back to the Norman invasion of Ireland. Fitz meant 'illegitimate son of 'to the Normans and the name Fitzharris (which is often interchangeable with Fitzhenry) means 'son of Harry'. Harry is actually Henry 1 of England, son of William the Conqueror. Henry's grandsons were part of the invasionary force in 1169 and there have been Fitzharris and Fitzhenry families there ever since. Sometimes families drop bits of their name and so maybe your family dropped the Fitz bit!

Harris is a name of English origin. There are of course many Harris families in Ireland who are quite Irish and probably have been for centuries. Just as there are Irish people with French, German and Chinese family names.

I am a Harris which is a Welsh name following the the same name structure as Jones, Williams, Davies etc. The largest concentration of Harris' is in the North Pembroke and Usk areas though now common around the world. I have looked at surname distribution from the 1881 census on the net and it shows the south Wales concentration. Living near Usk we have been here for generations!

This is a good site about surname distribution:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/ancestors/surnamedistribution.html (dead link)

I live in Cork and know a few Harris's that are Irish. A lot of names were anglicised to be more pronounceable and others were just changed to a similar English name e.g. o Muirly -> Morley, so it can be that your name is Harris and of completely Irish stock.

: I myself am a Harris. I prefer Na Hearadh as it's the Gaelic version of Harris. I'm Scottish, not English and certainly not British. Harris I can tell you is NOT an English name, it is a Welsh name. Like Ireland and Scotland, Wales is a Celtic country. I don't refer to myself as Scottish, Irish or Welsh, I am a Celt.