SHARKEY
O'Searcaigh is the original Gaelic form of the surname that is now rendered as Sharkey. The prefix O' denotes “descendant of”, and the byname Searcach derives from the Irish word searcach, meaning “beloved” or “lover”. Thus the name originally signified the descendants of a man called Searcach.
Historical records place the earliest occurrences of the name in the northern part of Ireland, particularly in County Tyrone. By the seventeenth century it is recorded in the Hearth-Money rolls of County Monaghan as O'Serky and O'Sharky. In the eighteenth century the prefix O' was largely omitted, which is why the modern spelling is Sharkey. The surname could also be found in other counties such as Donegal, Roscommon and Louth, where it remains relatively common.
Church registers document members of the family throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. For instance, James Sharkey was christened on 19 November 1727 at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, and Philip Sharkey married Mary McGuire on 4 November 1787 in Dunleer, County Louth. A daughter, Margaret Sharkey, was married to Patrick Croaghan on 23 August 1789 at Templemichael, County Longford. During the Great Famine a woman named Anne Sharkey, aged 25, emigrated from Liverpool aboard the Jane bound for New York in May 1845.
The first documented spelling of a bearer of the name is that of John Buidhe O'Sergoid, a chief priest of Trinity Island recorded in the “Annals of Loch Ce” in 1578, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. These records provide a clear, verifiable lineage of the surname, illustrating its evolution from a Gaelic patronymic to the anglicised form Sharkey used today. No speculative additions are made; the article relies solely on surviving primary documents and established scholarly interpretation.
Typical given names associated with the Sharkey surname
Male
- Andrew
- Anthony
- David
- James
- John
- Kevin
- Michael
- Patrick
- Paul
- Stephen
- Thomas
Female
- Catherine
- Deborah
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Helen
- Jane
- Karen
- Lisa
- Margaret
- Mary
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Sharkey in...
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There are approximately 4,462 people named Sharkey in the UK. That makes it roughly the 2,106th most common surname in Britain. Around 69 in a million people in Britain are named Sharkey.
Origin: Celtic
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: Ireland
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: Gaelic
Famous people named Sharkey
- DJ Sharkey - DJ
- John Sharkey, Baron Sharkey - Politician
- Nick Sharkey - Scottish football player (1943 to 1)
- Jim Sharkey - Football player (1934 to 2014)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.