Ó Droighneáin, Muiris
Ó Droighneáin, Muiris (1901–79), Irish-language scholar, was born 12 November 1901 in Clohonora House, Newtownshandrum, Co. Cork, eldest of three children of farmer James Drinan and his wife, Mary Rea. He received his earliest education in the locality and afterwards attended the…...
Ó Duibhgeannáin, Cú Choigcríche
Ó Duibhgeannáin, Cú Choigcríche (O'Duigenan, Peregrine) (fl. 1630–41), chronicler and scribe, one of the compilers of the Annals of the Four Masters, was son of Tuathal Buidhe Ó Duibhgeannáin, of Castlefore, Co. Leitrim; nothing is known of his mother. In the late medieval…...
Ó Duilearga, Séamus (James Hamilton Delargy)
Ó Duilearga, Séamus (James Hamilton Delargy) (1899–1980), folklorist, was born 26 May 1899 in Cushendall, Co. Antrim, son of James Delargy, publican from a long line of seafarers, and Mary Josephine Delargy (née McQuillan). He had one brother. His father died when he was two, and the…...
O'Flaherty, Stephen
O'Flaherty, Stephen (1902–82), motor factor, was born 23 January 1902 in Passage East, Co. Waterford, second son of Patrick O'Flaherty, farmer, of Passage East, Co. Waterford, and Kate O'Flaherty (neé O'Dywer), from Limerick. He was educated at the local national school and the…...
O'Flanagan, Theophilus
O'Flanagan, Theophilus (c.1762–1814), classical and Irish scholar, was born in the parish of Tulla, Co. Clare, son of Mathghamhain Ó Flannagáin, scribe and hedge-schoolmaster. He was baptised Tadhg but later on entering TCD…...
Ó Flathartaigh, Mairtín
Ó Flathartaigh, Mairtín (1912–2005), civil servant and Irish-language scholar, was born 11 November 1912 in the townland of An Caorán Mór, near Carraroe, Co. Galway, the youngest of seven children of Colm Ó Flathartaigh (1872–1919), a small farmer from An Caorán Mór, and his wife Bríd…...
O'Flynn, James Christopher
O'Flynn, James Christopher (1881–1962), priest and Irish language activist, was born 12 December 1881 in Mallow Lane, Cork, son of Cornelius O'Flynn who was employed in the butter market and his wife, Catherine Uppington, who was of protestant stock. O'Flynn was from a musical…...
Ó Foghludha, Risteard (Richard Foley)
Ó Foghludha, Risteard (Richard Foley) (1871–1957), teacher, journalist and editor, was born 5 March 1871 in Knockmonlea between Youghal and Killeagh, Co. Cork, son of farmer Richard Ó Foghludha and his wife, Peg Long. He was the eldest of seven girls and five boys and attended the…...
Ó Gealacáin, Peadar
Ó Gealacáin, Peadar (c.1792–1860), scribe and schoolmaster, was born in the parish of Moynalty, Co. Meath, son of Pádraig Ó Gealacáin and his wife, Margaret Williams. The year of his birth is uncertain and may have been 1792 or 1793 and his parents' occupations are unknown.…...
Ó Glaisne, Risteárd
Ó Glaisne, Risteárd (1927–2003), teacher, ecumenist and journalist, was born 2 September 1927 in Bandon, Co. Cork, the third of four children of George William Giles and his wife Sara Jane (née Vickery). He attended Bandon Grammar School and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), graduating…...
Ó Gnímh, Fearflatha
Ó Gnímh, Fearflatha (fl. 1580–1640) bardic poet, seems to have been born around 1580, in Co. Antrim, and may have been the son of Brian Ó Gnímh, who was also a professional poet. Members of the Ó Gnímh family were traditionally hereditary poets (ollamhs) to the O'Neills…...
Ó Gormáin (Mac Gormáin, O'Gorman, Gorman), Muiris (Maurice)
Ó Gormáin (Mac Gormáin, O'Gorman, Gorman), Muiris (Maurice) (c.1700/20–c.1794), scribe, poet, and schoolteacher, was born probably in Co. Monaghan, though a case has been made for a birthplace in Co. Louth. The oldest manuscript known in his hand has been dated to 1734…...
Ó Grianna, Séamus (‘Máire’)
Ó Grianna, Séamus (‘Máire’) (1889–1969), writer, known locally as ‘Jimmy Fheilimidh’ and publishing under the pseudonym ‘Máire’, was born 17 November 1889 in Ranafast, Co. Donegal, eldest son and fourth child among five sons and six daughters of Feidhlimidh Mac Grianna (Feidhlimidh…...
O'Growney, Eugene (Ó Gramhnaigh, Eoghan)
O'Growney, Eugene (Ó Gramhnaigh, Eoghan) (1863–99), priest, Gaelic Leaguer, and Irish-language scholar, was born 24 September 1863 in Ballyfallon, Athboy, Co. Meath, second among six children of Séamas Ó Gramhnaigh, steward, and his wife Máiréad (née Nic Gabhann) from Kilskeer, Co…...
O'Halloran, Michael Joseph
O'Halloran, Michael Joseph (1933–99), railwayman and politician, was born 20 August 1933 in Doonbeg, Co. Clare, son of Martin O'Halloran, railwayman. He was educated at Clohanes national school up to the age of 14, when he left to work on the railways in London. He became an active…...
Ó hAnluain, Eoghan
Ó hAnluain, Eoghan (1926–2012), writer, lecturer, editor, broadcaster and Irish language specialist, was born in Dublin on 18 January 1926, the third of four sons, to William Hanlon, an asphalt spreader and carpenter, and his wife Mary (née Kelly). The family lived on Parnell Square…...
Ó hAodha, Séamus
Ó hAodha, Séamus (1886–1967), poet and playwright, was born 20 January 1886 in Cork, son of Christopher Hayes, a carpenter, and his wife Ansty Morley. He received his education in the Christian Brothers' School, North Monastery, Cork, and subsequently University College Cork (UCC) where…...
Ó hEódhasa, Giolla Brighde
Ó hEódhasa, Giolla Brighde (Bonaventura, Bonaventure O’Hussey (O'Hosey)) (d. 1614), poet, grammarian, and counter-reformation Franciscan, was from somewhere in Clogher diocese, probably Baile Uí Eódhasa in Co. Fermanagh. Poetry was the hereditary profession of his family. It is likely…...
O'Hickey, Michael (Ó Hiceadha, Micheál)
O'Hickey, Michael (Ó Hiceadha, Micheál) (1861–1916), catholic priest and Gaelic Leaguer, was baptised on 12 March 1861 at Carrickbeg, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Waterford, though he may have been born in 1860. He was the son of Thomas Hickey and his wife Brigid (née Quinlan). O'Hickey's…...
Ó hIfearnáin, Liam ‘Dall’
Ó hIfearnáin, Liam ‘Dall’ (1720?–c.1803), poet, was born in the parish of Lattin, about five miles (8 km) west of Tipperary town. The Heffernans were a learned family and retainers of the earls of Desmond in the sixteenth century, and the contributors to ‘Iomarbhágh na…...
Ó hUadhaigh, Seán
Ó hUadhaigh, Seán (1886–1959), solicitor, republican, Irish-language enthusiast and aviation pioneer, was born John Kirwan Woods 20 May 1886 in 2 Brookline, Terenure Road, Dublin, son of Robert Hewitt Woods (d. 1891), barrister, originally from Co. Down, and Mary Katherine Woods (née…...
Ó hUaithnín, Seon
Ó hUaithnín, Seon (b. c.1688), poet, was born in Kilshanny, north of Ennistymon, Co. Clare, eldest son of Walter Huonyn (the name took many anglicised forms) of Tullamore in the parish of Killaspuglonane; nothing is known of his mother. Little is known of him, apart from…...
Ó hUallacháin, Colmán
Ó hUallacháin, Colmán (1922–79), educator, linguist, Irish-language activist and priest, was born Liam Holohan on 8 December 1922 in Dublin, eldest among four sons and two daughters of Garry Holohan (Gearóid Ó hUallacháin) (1894–1967), imprisoned republican soldier, and latterly an…...
Ó hUid, Tarlach
Ó hUid, Tarlach (1917–90), Irish-language writer and journalist, was born Augustus Walter Hood on 13 January 1917 in south Deptford, London, one of three sons and two daughters of munitions worker and later carpenter, Augustus Walter Hood, and his wife, Ada Brockwell. He changed his…...
Ó hUigínn, Maol Muire
Ó hUigínn, Maol Muire (Miler O'Higgins) (d. 1590), Franciscan, poet, archbishop of Tuam, was born some time in the early to mid-sixteenth century in the territory of Leyney, Co. Sligo. His father was the bardic poet Mathghamhain, son of Maol Muire Ó hUigínn, of…...