Counties of Ireland

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Updates: 

County Laois's own website  uses a spelling different from the one I was using, so I've updated it.

Change Notice 8 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2002-06-28. The only change under Ireland is that the Gaelic names of the counties were added as alternate names.

Country overview: 

At the beginning of the 20th century, the whole island of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. Irish patriots repeatedly argued and fought for independence. Finally, on 1921-12-06, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed. By its terms, Ireland became an independent country with dominion status, although Northern Ireland was to be allowed to make a separate decision. The name of the new country was the Irish Free State (Gaelic: Saorstát Éireann). On 1922-12-12, six counties in the north voted to revert to the United Kingdom. On 1949-04-18, the Irish Free State broke off its remaining links with Britain under a new constitution, becoming the Irish Republic (Poblacht na hÉireann).

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Irland
2. Dutch: Ierse Republiek, Ierland, Republiek Ierland (formal)
3. English: Republic of Ireland (formal), Irish Free State (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Irlanti
5. French: Irlande f
6. Gaelic: Éire (formal)
7. German: Irland, Eire n, Irische Republik f, Republik f Irland n (formal)
8. Icelandic: Írland
9. Italian: Irlanda f
10. Norwegian: Irland
11. Portuguese: Irlanda f
12. Spanish: Irlanda, República f de Irlanda f (formal)
13. Swedish: Irland

Origin of name: 

Éire + land. Éire may be from iar: west + fonn: country; or from i: isle + iarunn: iron.

Primary subdivisions: 

Ireland is divided into 26 (traditional) counties.

Note: Sources disagree about some capitals (county seats). The capital of Laois is Portlaoise. The same city is known as Maryborough, and has been known by both names throughout the 20th century. The name Maryborough was more common in English-language sources up to ~1955; after that, Portlaoise, or one of its variant spellings (Port Laoighis, Portlaoighise, etc.), was preferred. The sources seem to be divided on the capital of Meath: some say it's Trim (Baile Átha Troim), while others say Navan (An Uaimh). Most sources say that the capital of Tipperary is Clonmel, but a few maintain that it is Tipperary, and some say that it's Nenagh. In reality, Nenagh is the capital of the North Riding, and Clonmel, the South Riding. Finally, most sources say that the capital of Waterford is Waterford, but a few of them say that it's Dungarvan. Here, Dungarvan is the capital of Waterford administrative county, while Waterford itself is an administratively separate city.

Further subdivisions:

Ireland has administrative counties, electoral counties, and what I will call traditional counties. Most administrative counties have the same name and extent as traditional counties. The exceptions are four traditional counties that each contain an administrative county and a city, all of the same name (Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Waterford); one traditional county that is divided into two ridings (Tipperary); and one traditional county that is divided into three administrative counties and a city (Dublin). The electoral counties are election districts, and correspond to one or two traditional counties or a portion of a traditional county. The cities were known as county boroughs until 2001.

In common with the standards, I list the traditional counties.

The provinces date back to about the beginning of the Christian era, when there were five of them (with Meath). They now have no administrative function. The separation of Northern Ireland divided Ulster into two parts: the larger (six counties at the time of the split) is all of Northern Ireland, and the smaller (three counties) is now two disjoint parts of the Irish Republic.

Eight regional authorities were established in 1994. Their functions are largely confined to studying and recommending.

Territorial extent: 

All of the counties lie primarily on the main island, Ireland. Other islands occupied are listed for each county, roughly in order of decreasing size.

1. Clare: Mutton, and islands in the Shannon Estuary, especially at the mouth of River Fergus
2. Cork: Bear (Bere), Dursey, Great (in Cork Harbor), Clear, Sherkin, Whiddy, Long
3. Donegal: Aran, Tory, Cruit, Inishbofin, Inishtrahull, Gola
4. Dublin: Lambay, Dalkey, Irelands Eye, Shenicks
5. Galway: the Aran Islands, of which the largest are Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer; Gorumna, Inishbofin, Lettermore, Inishshark, Lettermullan, Mweenish, Tawin, Omey, High, Croaghnakeela
6. Kerry: Valentia (Valencia), the Blasket Islands (largest is Great Blasket), Carrig, Scariff, Beginish
7. Mayo: Achill, Clare, Inishturk, Inishkea North and South, Caher
8. Sligo: Inishmurray
9. Wexford: Saltee Islands, Tuskar Rock

Origins of names: 

1. Carlow: Irish ceatharlach: quadruple lake
2. Cavan: Irish an cabhán: hollow
3. Clare: Irish an clár: plain
4. Cork: from Irish corcach: swamp
5. Donegal: Irish Dun na nGall: fort of foreigners (probably Danes)
6. Dublin: Irish dubh: black, linn: pool, referring to the Liffey estuary
7. Galway: Irish gailimh: stony river
8. Kerry: Irish ciarraí: people of Ciar
9. Kildare: Irish cill: convent, dara: oak
10. Kilkenny: Irish for church of Cainneach
11. Laois: from ethnic name, tribe of Laeight
12. Leitrim: Irish liatroim: gray ridge
13. Limerick: Irish luimneach: barren land
14. Longford: fortified place
15. Louth: after River Lud
16. Mayo: Irish maigh eo: plain of the yews
17. Meath: Irish an mhí: the middle
18. Monaghan: Irish muineachán: place of the shrubs
19. Offaly: Irish uíbh Fhailí: Failghe's people
20. Roscommon: Irish ros Comáin: grove of Comán
21. Sligo: after River Shelly
22. Tipperary: Irish tipper: spring or well, and Ara, the name of a river
23. Ulster: Irish uladh: cairn, tomb, and a suffix -ster for land
24. Waterford: inlet of water
25. Westmeath: Irish an iarmhí: middle west

Change history: 

1. 1898: Under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, Tipperary county split into Tipperary North Riding and Tipperary South Riding administrative counties. Cork, Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford county boroughs split from the administrative counties of the same names.
2. 1920: Names of Kings and Queens counties changed to Offaly and Laois, respectively.
3. 1985: Galway county borough split from Galway administrative county.
4. 1994-01-01: Under the (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, eight regions were established, as listed under "Further Subdivisions". At the same time, under the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1993, Dublin administrative county split into Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown (capital Dún Laoghaire), Fingal (Swords), and South Dublin (Tallaght) administrative counties.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Donegal: Tyrconnel (obsolete)
2. Laois: Laoighis, Leix (variant); Queens (obsolete)
3. Offaly: Kings (obsolete)

Population history: