Flood — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Maoltuile
Meaning: 'from Ó Maoltuile, rendered as flood (tuile)'
Traditional stronghold: Kilkenny, Longford, Cavan
Pronunciation: FLUD; Irish Ó Maoltuile: oh MWAYL-til-eh
History of the Flood name
Most Irish Floods were originally Ó Maoltuile or Mac Maoltuile, a name whose second element was taken to be tuile, 'flood', and so translated into English; scholars suggest the name may in fact derive from toil, 'the will of God', marking a devotee. These families belonged to Cavan, Longford and the north midlands, where Flood remains common, and the intermediate form Tully survives alongside it. Separately, an English family of Floods settled in Kilkenny and rose to great prominence in the 18th century, producing Henry Flood, the most brilliant orator of the Irish Patriot Parliament before Grattan eclipsed him. The two origins, Gaelic and English, are now indistinguishable in most family lines without documentary research.
Variants: Tully · MacAtilla · Floyd
Famous bearers of the name
- Henry Flood — Kilkenny statesman and orator, a leader of the Patriot movement in the 18th-century Irish Parliament.
- W. H. Grattan Flood — Organist and author of a pioneering History of Irish Music.
- Feargus Flood — High Court judge who chaired the tribunal into planning corruption that bears his name.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Walsh · Brennan · Brady · O'Reilly · Fitzpatrick · McGowan · Smith · Clarke