The most frequent family names with roots in County Wicklow — names that spread through Ireland and the Irish diaspora:
Wicklow's title — the Garden of Ireland — refers to its extraordinary landscape: the Wicklow Mountains National Park, the largest upland area in Ireland, cuts through the county's heart. The Sally Gap, the Glenmacnass waterfall, and the Wicklow Way walking route pass through a terrain that has been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic.
The two most powerful Leinster surnames — Byrne and O'Toole — come from Wicklow. The O'Byrnes controlled the Wicklow mountains for centuries and resisted English control long after the rest of Leinster had fallen. Their mountain fastness, inaccessible to cavalry, made them ungovernable. The 1798 Rebellion — one of the bloodiest chapters in Irish history — had its centre in Wicklow, led by Joseph Holt and Michael Dwyer from the hills.
Glendalough, founded by St Kevin in the sixth century, is one of the finest early Christian monastic sites in Europe. Two round towers, a cathedral, and a series of small stone churches survive in the valley of the two lakes — a site that draws both pilgrims and diaspora visitors connecting to Ireland's pre-Norman past.
Wicklow families — especially the Byrnes and Kavanaghs — spread heavily to Australia, where the 1798 rebel deportees seeded a distinctive Wicklow-Irish identity in New South Wales and Victoria. The county's mountain topography produced hardy emigrants who settled the hill country of Pennsylvania and Appalachia.
Love Ireland covers Glendalough, the Wicklow Way, the coastal towns from Bray to Arklow, and the hidden glens that first-time visitors rarely find. Wicklow's landscape is spectacular and its history is layered — the newsletter brings both.
Subscribe to Love Ireland — FreeIf your family came from County Wicklow, here's where to start your research:
Common County Wicklow surnames with dedicated pages on this site: