Plunkett - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Pluincéid
Meaning: Norman, possibly “blanket-maker”
Traditional stronghold: Louth, Meath
St Oliver Plunkett is Ireland’s last canonised martyr.
Pronunciation: PLUN-kit; Irish Pluincéid: PLIN-kayj
History of the Plunkett name
The Plunketts are an Anglo-Norman family, their name probably deriving from the Old French blanchet, a white cloth, and they have been rooted in Meath and Louth since the thirteenth century. Uniquely tenacious among the Old English nobility, they produced three enduring titled lines: the Earls of Fingall at Killeen Castle, the Barons Louth, and the Barons of Dunsany, whose castle is still occupied by the family today. The family remained largely Catholic after the Reformation, and its greatest figure, St Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, was martyred at Tyburn in 1681 and canonised in 1975, the first new Irish saint in almost seven centuries.
Variants: Plunket · Plunkitt
Famous bearers of the name
- St Oliver Plunkett - Archbishop of Armagh executed at Tyburn in 1681, canonised in 1975; his head is venerated in Drogheda.
- Joseph Mary Plunkett - Poet and signatory of the 1916 Proclamation, executed after the Easter Rising.
- Sir Horace Plunkett - Pioneer of the Irish agricultural co-operative movement and founder of the IAOS.
- Lord Dunsany (Edward Plunkett) - Prolific fantasy writer whose work influenced Tolkien and Lovecraft.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Kelly · Cusack · Dillon · Harte · Carolan · Aylmer · Boylan · Bruton