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Latin Names in Irish Church Records
Updated: Apr 25, 2019
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.