Fox — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: An Sionnach
Meaning: 'translation of sionnach (fox)'
Traditional stronghold: Longford, Offaly, Westmeath
Pronunciation: FOX; Irish An Sionnach: un SHUN-ukh
History of the Fox name
Most Irish Foxes owe their name to translation rather than English ancestry. The chief family were the Ó Catharnaigh of Teffia in Westmeath, whose 11th-century chief Tadhg Ó Catharnaigh earned the nickname An Sionnach, 'the Fox', for his cunning; his descendants adopted it as their surname, and their chief was styled simply The Fox, ruling the territory later called the barony of Kilcoursey in Offaly, a title the family maintained into modern times. Other families named Ó Sionnaigh or Mac an tSionnaigh similarly became Fox, and some English Foxes settled in the towns. The name remains most common in the midlands and Dublin. Bearers include Senator Billy Fox of Monaghan, the only member of the Oireachtas killed during the Troubles.
Variants: Ó Catharnaigh · Shinnock · Shunny
Famous bearers of the name
- Billy Fox — Monaghan senator murdered by republicans in 1974, the only Oireachtas member killed in the Troubles.
- Mildred Fox — Wicklow independent TD who held her seat across three Dáil terms from 1995.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Daly · Dunne · O'Farrell · Carroll · Mooney · Hennessy · Dempsey · Molloy