Latin Names in Irish Church Records

Knowing the Latin versions of key words and first names, can be vital when searching your ancestors in early church records. Many first names were latinised by priests during birth, marriage and death records, and not all search engines will produce the latin versions or irregular nicknames. This means you might miss important records and grind your research to a halt.

You can find Catholic church records on all the major genealogy websites, however I recommend Findmypast. Findmypast has the best search features and algorithim which means you get exactly what you search for.

When searching for all variants of a first name insert the first letter of the name followed by an astrix (*), and this will produce all names that start with this letter. You can add more letters to refine your search e.g Mar* = Mary, Maria, Mariam, Mariae etc.

Although most search engines include common nicknames in their results, they wont throw up spelling mistakes, errors and seemingly unrelated latin versions.

List of common Irish names and their variants

Alice - Alicia, Alica, Ally, Alicam, Alicas

Anne - Ann, Anna, Ana, Annas, Annam, Nancy, Nance, Nannie, Nan, Hannah,

Anastatia - Anastasia, Anty, Ant, Anti, Anstice, Stasia, Statia, Ansty

Andrew - Andy, Drew, Andreas, Andw

Anthony - Tony, Antony, Anton, Antonius, Antonious, Anto

Bridget - Brigid , Brigit, Biddy, Bridie, Brgd, Brigt, Bgt, Breege, Brigette, Bridgie, Brid, Brigidus, Bee, Beesy, Biddy, Bridgid, Bride, Bridie, Brigida, Delia, Bidelia, Bedelia, Bedilia

Catherine - Catherinam, Cath, Cathy, Catharine, Katherine, Kath, Kathy, Kate, Katie, Kay, Kitty, Katherina, Catharina

Christine - Christina, Christiana, Christianam, Christian

Christopher - Chris, Christy, Christopherus, Christopheri, Christophero

Daniel - Dan, Danl, Danny, Dónal, Danielis, Danieli

David - Davy, Dave, Davidus, Davd, Dvd, Davet

Denis - Dennis, Den, Denny, Dns, Din, Dinny, Donnacha, Dionisius, Dyonisius,

Edmund - Edmd, Edmond, Eamon, Eamonn, Edmundus, Edmundi, Edmundo,

Edward - Edw, Ned, Neddy, Ed, Eddy, Edwardus, Eduardus, Edwardi,

Elizabeth - Eliza, Elisabeth, Beth, Betty, Bes, Bess, Bessie, Betsy, Liz, Lizzy, Liza, Eliz, Lizabeth, Lisa, Elizabetha, Eilish, Elisa, Elizth

Ellen - Eleanor, Eileen, Nell, Nelly, Helen, Helena, Ellie, Lean, Leana, Elena, Nell, Nellie.

Frances(Female) - Fran, Franny, Francie, Fanny, Francesca

Francis (Male) - Frank, Frankie, Francy, Franciscus

George - Geo, Georgie, Georgii, Georgius, Georgio

Honor - Honora, Hanoria, Onny, Hanara, Nora, Norrie, Nonie, Hon

Hugh - Eugene, Hugo, Eugenius, Gene, Eoghan, Hugonis, Eug, Owen, Own, Oin.

James - Jacob, Jacobus, Jams, Jim, Jacobi, Séamus, Jimmy, Jamie, Jas

John - , Jack, Ionnes, Shane, Joannes, Joannis, Sean, Jonny

Joseph - Jos, Josephus, Josephi, Joe

Mary - Mariam, Maria, Minnie, May, Marie, Molly, Mariae, Maureen, Maire

Margaret - Mag, Maggie, Meg, Peg, Peggy, Margarita, Madge.

Martin - Mart, Martinus, Marten, Marty, Martini

Michael - Mick, Micahel, Michaelis, Mike, Mikey, Mchl

Patrick - Pat, Paddy, Patritius, Patr, Patritii, Patricius, Padraig, Packie, Patritio, Patrick, Patricium

Peter - Petrus, Pete, Petri, Petro

Richard - Dick, Rich, Rickard, Ricardi, Rick, Ricardus, Ricardo

Robert - Rob, Bob, Roberti, Robertus, Bobby, Roberto, Robby

Sarah - Sara, Sally, Serah, Sera, Sadie, Saly, Sally, Sal

Thomas - Tom, Tommy, Thos, Tomas, Thomae

William - Gulielmus, Willie, Will, Billy, Bill, Liam, Gulielmi, Guglielmus, Vilhelmus

If your ancestor has a name that does not appear on this list, make use of google. Search for latin variants of the name, plus common nicknames.