GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SHERRY, McSHERRY, SHARRY, McSHARRY

 

Source: Griffiths Valuation

 

 

The map to the left is an adaptation of a map from the Atlas of Irish Names project of University College Cork.

 

http://www.ucc.ie/research/atlas/

http://www.ucc.ie/research/atlas/maps/foley.htm

 

This adaptation shows parishes in the northern part of Ireland in which SHERRYs (dark green), McSHERRYs (blue), SHARRYs (light green) and McSHARRYs (purple) were recorded in Griffiths Valuation.

 

One observation is that the western McSHERRYs may actually have been McSHARRYs but the spelling by the surveyor of Griffiths Valuation happened to be wrong. In recent times McSHERRY is unknown in the Leitrim/Sligo areas.

 

FOLEY is considered to be another potential variation of SHERRY. The original Irish spelling for SHERRY was “searraigh” which means “foal” or “young horse”. With the Anglicization of Irish names, some may have chosen FOLEY. The Foley map has a pocket of FOLEYs in the counties of Sligo, Leitrim, and Roscommon far from the traditional southern homelands of the FOLEY clan and very near the highest concentration of McSHARRYs.

 

Dublin is another area of concentration for the SHERRY variants, but I did not color code those parishes.