Tubridy

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Tubridy is found in County Clare.

Tubridy (Gaelic: Ó Tiobraide, Ó Tipraite/Tipraiti) is an Anglicised version of a surname found in County Clare, Ireland. The name means "descendant of Tiobraide", with the modern day Irish language word tiobraid meaning "a well".^[1] The name is described as "unusual and interesting",^[2] it is not very common unlike many surnames of Irish origin, also because of its somewhat obscure origins and how the name has developed over time between different languages. The surnames Tubberty and Tubritt may be related.

Genelogical theories abound as to the origins of the surname. In regards to the word Tiobraide some geneologists have suggested that it is topographical in origin, relating to a person who lived by a well, possibily a holy well and probably charged others to use it.^[2] There are numerous sacred wells in Ireland, dating back to both pagan and early Christian periods, an example is Tubrid Well at Millstreet relating to Saint Ita who is nicknamed the "Brigid of Munster".^[3]^[4] Recorded reference for the earliest person named Tiobraide can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, in relation to Tiobraide Tireach who was a King of Ulster, living out his life between 136 and 187 AD.^[5] Tiobraide Tirech himself came from a long line of nobles, his father was Mal mac Rochride one of the High Kings of Ireland; the Annals describes them as part of the Milesian race with a lineage that traces back directly to Míl Espáine, who's son tradition holds, came to Ireland from Hispania in the Iberian Peninsula as part of the "Ulster Cycle".^[6] The Annals also describes Tiobraide Tireach as the founder of Dál nAraidi.^[7]

A variation^[8] of the name, from the same root^[9] appeared in the form of Tipraite mac Taidg just before the 800s as he was the King of Connacht from the years 782 until 786.^[10] It is after this period that Ó meaning "descendent of" becomes part of the name; evident in the Great Book of Lecan and the Book of Ballymote from the 1300s where it appears as Ua Tibraide and O' Tipraite/Tipraiti, suggesting a royal lineage or descendency behind the modern day name Tubridy.^[2] The name is recorded in the Justiciary Rolls of County Carlow of 1311 in the form of a person named Fiachra O' Tybryth, this was during the reign of king Edward II of England, Lord of Ireland with the introduction of personal tax for citizens.^[2] During the 16th century with lingustic developments the more modern spellings of Tubridd, Tubritt, Tubbred, and Tibrud are in clearer evidence.^[2]

Since the 1800s, likely due to The Great Hunger, the name Tubridy spread out from County Clare into the New World as well as across the Irish Sea to Great Britain.^[2] The Tubridys were one of numerous Western Ireland families linked to a much larger myth developed in the New World, in relation to the Spanish Armada's sinking off the coast of County Clare in 1588, known as the Black Irish myth (a reference to black hair colour in some caucasian Irish people).^[11] In the myth specifically related to the Tubridys the tale says, a Spanish man who surived the sinking was swept ashore the West Coast of Ireland, finding refuge with a woman surnamed Ridy, hidding in the well near her house. As the man could not speak either English or Irish, he was named "Tubridy" with tub meaning "water".^[11] Although such an etymology is impossible due to the names much older existence, the name does have a historic link to the Celtiberians in Ireland concept via Tiobraide Tireach. Also modern genetic tests show a strong connection between Irish people and the Basques, with the gene patterns passed down through the male line of the two described as "strikingly similar".^[12]