Wall - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: de Bhál
Meaning: Norman - “of the wall” (du Val)
Traditional stronghold: Limerick, Waterford
Pronunciation: WAWL; Irish de Bhál: deh VAWL
History of the Wall name
Wall descends from the Norman du Val or de Valle ('of the valley'), a family that came to Ireland in the wake of the invasion and put down roots in Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny and Carlow; in Irish they became de Bhál. The Walls of Dunmoylan held extensive lands in west Limerick until the seventeenth-century confiscations, and other branches were seated in the Kilkenny-Carlow region, where the townland name Wallstown-type placenames mark their manors. Like many Old English Catholic families they supplied officers to continental armies after the Williamite defeat; the most remarkable was Richard Wall, of a Waterford Jacobite family, who rose to be chief minister of Spain from 1754 to 1763.
Variants: Walle · Wale · de Valle · Vail
Famous bearers of the name
- Richard Wall - Irish-descended statesman who served as chief minister of Spain under Ferdinand VI and Charles III.
- Mervyn Wall - Dublin novelist and playwright, author of the satirical Fursey novels.
- Tony Wall - Tipperary centre-back who captained the 1958 All-Ireland hurling champions.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Brien · Ryan · Walsh · Collins · Fitzgerald · Power · Whelan · Hayes