Do some Irish names come from Spanish Armada survivors?
Dear Cecil: Many of my Irish friends have suggested that certain Irish surnames, such as Costello, Moore, and Spain, originated at the time of the Spanish Armada, what with all the seagoing Spaniards swimming ashore and becoming enchanted with the fair colleens. Some have gone so far as to suggest that the names Murray and Murphy originated this way (apparently they mean something like “from the sea”). Is this blarney, or do I see some blue Spanish eyes when Irish eyes are smiling?
Dear Cecil: Many of my Irish friends have suggested that certain Irish surnames, such as Costello, Moore, and Spain, originated at the time of the Spanish Armada, what with all the seagoing Spaniards swimming ashore and becoming enchanted with the fair colleens. Some have gone so far as to suggest that the names Murray and Murphy originated this way (apparently they mean something like “from the sea”). Is this blarney, or do I see some blue Spanish eyes when Irish eyes are smiling? — Andrzej Kowalczyk, Chicago Cecil replies: Good to hear from somebody with a nice Irish name like Kowalczyk, Andrzej. However, I’d have known you were a son of the auld sod even if you hadn’t signed your letter, mainly because like all the Irish you like to lay it on thick. I mean, come on — Murphy a Spanish surname? Murphy is the most common name in all of Ireland. The Spaniards would have had to have been humping like bedbugs to populate the whole island. In fact, it seems likely that few, if any, survivo
