Ó Ciardha

Rev Patrick Woulfe

1923

Ó CIARDHA—I—O Kirry, O Kerry, Keery, Keary, Karey, Carey, &c.; 'descendant of Ciardha' (derivative of ciar, black); the name of a family of the southern Ui Neill who were lords of Cairbre, the present barony of Carbury in the north-west of Co. Kildare, until the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion, when they disappear from history. The name is, however, still common in Kildare, Meath, Westmeath, and many parts of the south of Ireland, but generally anglicised Carey, which makes it difficult to distinguish it from the many other names similarly anglicised.

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