Lynch - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Loingsigh / de Linche
Meaning: “mariner” (or Norman origin)
Traditional stronghold: Galway
One of the Tribes of Galway.
Pronunciation: LINTCH; Irish O Loingsigh / de Lench
History of the Lynch name
Lynch has two quite separate origins. The Gaelic O Loingsigh, meaning roughly 'mariner' or 'sailor', gave rise to septs in several counties including Clare, Roscommon and Sligo. Entirely distinct is the Anglo-Norman de Lench family, who settled in Galway and rose to become one of the fourteen ruling merchant Tribes of Galway, repeatedly supplying the city's mayors between the 15th and 17th centuries; a Lynch mayor is traditionally, if apocryphally, credited with hanging his own son for murder, a story sometimes linked to the English word 'lynch', though historians dispute the connection. Both strands anglicised to the same surname.
Variants: Linch · Lynche · Lynskey
Famous bearers of the name
- Jack Lynch - Cork-born Taoiseach and former All-Ireland winning hurler and footballer
- Kathleen Lynn - Physician and revolutionary active in the 1916 Rising
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Kelly · Connolly · Burke · Clarke · Hughes · Keane · Kenny · Cunningham