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Households in the Griffiths Valuation of Ireland 1845-1864 |
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The family name has undergone changes from the original Gaelic by dint of being transliterated into as near an English equivalent as the English could hear. Below I list several resources for those interested in follow-up. These materials were collected from various sources over the years. Others may be more accurate, complete and current.
1- From the book Titled :"Irish Family Names : Arms, Origins and Locations" Author : Brian DeBreffny CONDRON. This surname is borne by descendants of a Co. Offlay sept O'Conarain. Some are still living in that county whence the family spread into adjacent counties. The variant spelling Conran is in use and presumably the Condren families now living in Co. Wexford also share the same ancestry.
2- Book Title : "A Dictionary of Surnames" Author : Patrick Hanks & Flavia Hodges Oxford University Press 1988 Conroy - Irish : Anglicized form of Gael. O'Conaire, descendant of Conaire, a byname meaning 'Keeper of the Hound' (an agent deriv. of cu hound, dog) Vars. :Con(ner)ry dims. :O'Conoran, O'Coneran, Conran, Condron, Condrie (Gael. O'Conarain).
3- A surname search done by "The Historical Research Center" for a relative of mine in 1993 produced the following information: The Irish surname Condron is patronymic in origin, being one of those names derived from the first name of the father. Thus, the name means "son of Condron". The name finds its roots in the Irish surname O'Conarain, the prefix "O" denoting one who is the descendent of or the grandson of Conarain, the personal name of the original bearer. The Irish name was then anglicized as Conron or Condron, the "O" being dropped, probably as it was a reminder to the bearer that he was one of the conquered nation. Condron is a relatively modern variant, as all known references to the name before 1700 take the forms Coneran, O'Conran and O'Coneran. Families bearing this name originated in County Offlay, where the name was common, and it was also popular in the adjoining counties of Leix and Kildare, as can be seen in the Ormond Deeds, the Tudor Fiants and Petty's "census". In Munster the surname is recorded, in the form Coneran, in the survey of County Fermanagh, made in 1603. There people bearing this name are mentioned as coarbs, that is, the abbot or "heir" of the saintly founder, of the "parish church of the Mill" in the barony of Tirkennedy. However, the surname has not survived there as it has in Leinster. The place name Ballyconran in County Wexford suggests that there were once influential families bearing this name living there also.
Frederick Conron, Sep 2003
Here is what I say on my Condran profile page at the Guild of One-Name Studies:
It seems likely that most if not all lineages of people with these names link back originally to Ireland. Although not a definite indication of ultimate origins, the distribution of householders with the name CONDRON and variants in the Griffiths Valuation of Ireland 1848-1864 is suggestive. The names CONDRAN, CONDREN, CONDRIN, CONDRON are uncommon even in Ireland. In the Griffiths Valuation of Ireland index (http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths.htm) there are only 132 heads of household with these names. Of these, 33 are in County Laois (also known as Leix, formerly Queens County) and 25 in County Offaly (formerly Kings County), suggesting that the names perhaps originate in this central midlands area of Ireland. The next highest aggregations of people with these names are 22 in Dublin (County and City) and 18 in County Kildare. It would be natural for there to have been a migration from the provinces towards Dublin, and Kildare is situated directly between Dublin and the counties of Offaly and Laois.
I have heard it said that 'condron' means in Gaelic someone who stands on in the prow of a boat spotting shoals of fish. Whether there is substance in this I cannot at present say.
A French origin for the name, perhaps from the town of Condren in Picardie, north-east of Paris, cannot at this stage be completely ruled out. Certainly there was a seventeenth century French theologian, Father Charles de Condren (1588-1641) ,who was the second Superior General of the Congregation of the Oratorians. A biography, 'Charles de Condren' by M.V. Woodgate, was published by Newman Press (Westminster, MD, USA) in 1949.