Word: ceallaigh
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...issued an order in 1465 requiring all Irishmen to take "an English surname of one towne, as Sutton, Chester . . . or art or science ... or office, as cook, butler." Though the law was generally ignored, the Irish did find it expedient to Anglicize their names. In the proud name O Ceallaigh, for example, the O was dropped, hard Irish c became k, the guttural aigh softened to y; and the result was Kelly. Many Eire patriots are now reversing the process, with Murphy re-emerging as O Murchadha, and Moriarty as O Muircheartaigh...
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