The most frequent family names with roots in County Meath — names that spread through Ireland and the Irish diaspora:
Meath was the fifth and royal province of ancient Ireland — the centre of the island, the seat of the High Kings at the Hill of Tara. The name comes from Mide, meaning 'middle.' For a thousand years, Tara was Ireland's symbolic and practical political capital, where the Ard Rí — the High King — was inaugurated and where the five provinces came together.
Newgrange — in the Boyne Valley — predates both Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Giza. Built around 3200 BC, it is perfectly aligned with the winter solstice sunrise, which fills its inner chamber with light for seventeen minutes each year. The Boyne Valley also holds Knowth and Dowth, making this the most significant prehistoric landscape in northern Europe.
The Battle of the Boyne (1690) was fought in County Meath, beside the river that gives the county its most famous feature. William III's defeat of James II here sealed the Protestant succession in Ireland and England — an event still commemorated annually in Ulster. The Boyne is one of Ireland's most historically loaded rivers.
Meath families spread through Leinster and across the Atlantic in waves. The O'Reillys — originally Cavan but closely tied to Meath — became significant in New York's Irish Catholic community. Plunkett is a County Meath name of Norman origin that produced Saint Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, martyred in 1681 and canonised in 1975.
Love Ireland covers Newgrange's winter solstice, the Hill of Tara, the Boyne Valley, and the quiet agricultural beauty of the county that the tourist route mostly skips. Meath rewards slow travel.
Subscribe to Love Ireland — FreeIf your family came from County Meath, here's where to start your research:
Common County Meath surnames with dedicated pages on this site: