Gillespie — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Giolla Easpaig
Meaning: 'son of the bishop's servant'
Traditional stronghold: Donegal, Down
Pronunciation: gil-ESS-pee; Irish Mac Giolla Easpaig: mok GIL-a ASS-pig
History of the Gillespie name
Mac Giolla Easpaig means 'son of the servant of the bishop', marking descent from a family attached to the early church, and the name is found in both Ireland and Gaelic Scotland, where it produced the same surname. In Ireland it is essentially an Ulster name, historically concentrated in Donegal and Down and spreading through Derry and Tyrone. The Donegal Gillespies contributed notably to traditional fiddle music, while the name crossed the Atlantic in the Ulster emigrations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Rowan Gillespie's gaunt bronze Famine figures on Dublin's Custom House Quay are among the most photographed sculptures in Ireland.
Variants: Gillespy · McGillespie
Famous bearers of the name
- Rowan Gillespie — Sculptor of the Famine memorial on Dublin's Custom House Quay.
- Keith Gillespie — Northern Ireland winger who starred for Newcastle United in the 1990s.
- Hugh Gillespie — Donegal fiddler whose 1930s New York recordings are treasured by traditional musicians.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Gallagher · Murray · Boyle · Doherty · Sweeney · O'Donnell · Duffy · McLoughlin