Barry - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: de Barra
Meaning: Norman, from Barry in Wales
Traditional stronghold: Cork
One of the great Norman families of Munster.
Pronunciation: BAR-ee; Irish de Barra: deh BAR-ah
History of the Barry name
The Barrys are Cambro-Normans, taking their name from Barry Island in south Wales. Philip de Barry, whose family included the chronicler Gerald of Wales, received great estates in Co. Cork after 1179, and the family became one of the most powerful in Munster, dividing into branches remembered in the place names Barrymore ('great Barry'), Barryroe and Buttevant, the latter said to echo their war cry, Boutez en avant. Thoroughly hibernicised, the Barrys took the Irish form de Barra and produced Gaelic patrons and poets as well as earls. Cork remains the name's great stronghold, and it has been carried by naval founders, patriots, painters and revolutionaries.
Variants: de Barra · Barrie · Berry
Famous bearers of the name
- John Barry - Wexford-born commodore honoured as a father of the American Navy.
- Kevin Barry - 18-year-old medical student executed in 1920, subject of one of the most famous Irish ballads.
- Tom Barry - Commander of the West Cork IRA flying column in the War of Independence and author of Guerilla Days in Ireland.
- James Barry - Cork-born painter of vast history canvases, elected to the Royal Academy and later famously expelled from it.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · O'Sullivan · McCarthy · Daly · Collins · Flynn · Healy · Casey