irish traveller blood

• Researching Irish Traveller Ancestors

Tracing Irish Traveller family history can be extra challenging due to the lack of written records. However, there are clues to be found that can point to Irish Traveller ancestry, and a number of resources to help people discover more.

​ This resource is a work in progress; please feel free to add recommendations and suggestions to this message board thread .

An Lucht Siúil  ( Traveling Folk  lit. the Walking People) or Travellers can refer to a variety of people who lived life on the road. Irish Travellers aka Mincéir aka Pavee are a distinct Irish ethnic group with their own customs, language and traditions. Many live in the UK for all or part of the year. They are a recognised ethnic minority group.

Irish Traveller culture and ancestry

Irish Travellers are a separate cultural group that started migrating to Britain in the early 19th century and can be traced back to 12th century Ireland. 

Population structure & History of Irish travellers

Genetic research found that Irish Travellers are of Irish origin and have significant genetic makeup compared to their settled community. An estimated 40,000 Travellers (less than 1% of the population) are living in Ireland today. Although sometimes called gypsies, they have no genetic relation to  Romani . 

Gene study reveals Irish Travellers' ancestry

The Celtic Travellers DNA project is for descendants and members and of  Irish Travellers , Highland Scottish Travellers, Lowland Scottish Travellers, Fairground Travellers and other  Non-Romani  travelling families. However, Roma or mixed Traveller heritage are also welcome to join.

Celtic Travellers DNA Project

Searching Census & Vital Records for clues

Clues that can suggest Traveller ancestry include:

Occupations: tinker, tinman, tinsmith, whitesmith, dealer, pedlar, horse dealer, basket maker,  peg maker , knife grinder/ sharpener, hawker , musician , and sometimes labourer.

Place of Birth : All the children in the family being born in different places is also a big clue. 

Residence : Unusual residences such as "tent on common"

Irish Gypsies and Irish Travellers are distinct ethnic groups often referred to in parish registers as 'Pavees' or 'Minceir'. 

Irish Traveller Genealogy Resources

Here is a list of useful resources to help you trace Irish Traveller or Mincéir ancestors:

TravellerHeritage.ie

https://www.paveepoint.ie/ PaveePoint.ie

The Romany & Traveller Family History Society

Travellers Times

RomaHeritage.co.uk  |  GypsyWagons.co.uk  |  Gypsy Genealogy

Special Collections:  Liverpool  |  Leeds  |  Reading  |  Surrey  |  Sussex 

IrelandXO Message Board

The IrelandXO message board can be a great resource for finding out more about Irish Traveller family histories and connecting with other descendants. Click on the links to read some interesting message board threads:

Need Information on "Tinkers", "Travelers"

McDonough/McDonagh family from Killedan

O'Brien/O'Leary

Doran in Galway

IrelandXO Traveller Timelines

• Traveling Folk in the 1930s

Irish Traveller Buildings & Places

• St Nicholas of Myra, Francis St, DUBLIN
• Long Mile Road WALKINSTOWN

Irish Traveller Photo Collections

UCD Digital Collection

Common Irish Traveller Family Names

Berry, Brown, Cash , Carmody, Carthy, Casey, Cassidy, Cawley , Clark, Collins, Connors , Conroy, Corcoran, Cunningham, Delaney, Doherty , Donoghue/ O’Donoghue, Donovan , Doran, Dunne , Flynn, Furey , Gallagher, Green, Hanafin/ Hannifin , Hand, Hanley, Hanrahan, Harper, Hennessey, Joyce , Keating, Keenan, Kerrigan, Kiely, Lawrence, Lee, Lynch, Maguire, Malone, Maloney, Maughan , Mongan, Moorehouse McCarthy , MacDonald, McDonagh , MacDonnell, MacAleer, McCann, McDonnell, McGinley, McInerney, MacLoughlin, McRea, Nevin, Nolan, O’Donnell, O’Reilly / Reilly, Power, Purcell, Price, Quinn, Stokes , Sweeney, Ward , Wall, Windrum.

​Famous Irish Traveller Ancestors 

Sean Connery's ancestor: James Connery born circa 1840

Margaret Barry born 1917

The Duchás Folklore Collection

Between 1937 and 1939, primary school pupils across the Republic of Ireland interviewed the elderly in their neighborhood to collect and record local stories and folklore from the 19th century. "The Schools Collection" as it became known is held by the Dúchas Folklore Collection in UCD and is and has been digitized online at duchas.ie. One of the topics schoolchildren were asked to write about were "Travelling Folk" or An Lucht Siúil. Click here  to read a selection of what "settled" children wrote about travelers in the late 1930s.

Are you descended from Irish Travellers? Add their story to the IrelandXO website and connect with other descendants living all around the world. 

Additional Advice from our IrelandXO Community

My great-grandmother was from Galway Travellers, it took me years to put together the best family history I could manage.  If you are not sure the name you are looking for is a Traveling People name you might go to the Pavee Point site and search other sites under Traveller History, names, etc.   There are different groups of people who seem to come under the category of "Traveller", Irish, English,  UK, Scotland & Wales),  Roma, Romania & South Eastern European, Carnival & Show Travelers, and I'm sure others. Families often marry within particular other families, I saw an online list of which families marry into which other name families and first names are repeated thru generations like the Irish naming pattern used to be, these lists are usually individual observations and quite old.  In addition to the name on UK census records you might find the address listed as "in Tents",  "in Lanes", etc.  The occupation might be listed, such as it was for my great grandfather, as Tinman , as the Traveling people used to do pot mending and such things as they moved from place to place.  Location can be difficult because of moving from place to place,  often within a particular area, such as only Munster,  or Scotland to Ireland, I spent years finding a family member who had gone to Wales.  Then of course someone you are searching may have gotten Transportation to Australia or be in prison in England, sometimes waiting several years there before transportation. This might be a bit of luck for you as records for prison and transportation are online.   Of course you can always search the parish registers in a particular area you are interested in, as Traveling People are likely to be Roman Catholic and very likely to have their children baptized which would be recorded along with other church sacramental records, marriage etc.  Also consider that many people with Irish Travelling people heritage were settled and maybe had not been going from place to place for years, if not generations.   As far as DNA sites I recommend My Heritage , this site has more Irish, UK, English than any other I have seen.  If your DNA is on another site you probably can transfer it to My Heritage for free, its very worthwhile.  Make good use of your higher number DNA matches by checking the shared matches for repeat names. 

Elaine Walsh

** originally published in 2022

We hope you have found the information we have shared helpful. While you are here, we have a small favour to ask. Ireland Reaching Out is a non-profit organisation that relies on public funding and donations to ensure a completely free family history advisory service to anyone of Irish heritage who needs help connecting with their Irish place of origin. If you would like to support our mission, please click on the donate button and make a contribution. Any amount, big or small, is appreciated and makes a difference. 

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Gypsy surnames: How to tell if you have Gypsy ancestry

What are the most common Gypsy surnames and first names, and how can you tell if you have Gypsy ancestry? Find out with our guide

Getty Images

As more records go online, it has never been easier to find out if you have 'Gypsy blood' running in your veins. The definitions of Gypsy, Traveller or Romani/Romany ancestors cross all sorts of ethnic and non-ethnic boundaries, encompassing communities that have a nomadic culture, history or lifestyle. Tracing Gypsy family history can be hard because of the lack of written records. However, some surnames were historically more common in Gypsy communities. If you have one of these surnames below, or you find them in your family tree, you may have Gypsy ancestry.

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What are Gypsy surnames?

All of the following are common Gypsy surnames:

Common Gypsy girls names

Gypsies sometimes gave their children unusual first names, which you might find in your family history records. However, you are just as likely to find that your Gypsy ancestors had perfectly common first names such as Mary, Esther, Joseph or Henry. You might find any of the following as Gypsy girl's names:

Common Gypsy boys names

You may find any of the following as Gypsy boy's names:

Where do Gypsies come from?

Romani Gypsies are thought to have arrived in Britain from the northern Indian sub-continent around 1500. The first reference to Gypsies in England occurs in 1514. The term ‘Gypsy’ derives from the fact that they were thought to have come from Egypt.

Irish Travellers are a separate cultural group who can be traced back to 12th century Ireland and started migrating to Britain in the early 19th century. There are other groups of Travellers, such as English, Scottish and Welsh Travellers. Travelling showmen, and more recently New Age Travellers, are also groups of people who lived and live on the road.

Census records for Gypsy ancestry

In census records , Gypsies may have recorded unusual residences such as 'Under the River Bridge', 'Bender' (a tent made from hazel twigs covered with a canvas) or 'Tent on Common'. To search for traveller families in the 1921 census for England and Wales , try just surname and 'No fixed abode' or 'No fixed address' in the address box in the advanced search as first names are often wrongly recorded or transcribed.

Another clue for Gypsy ancestry is all the children in the family being born in different places. You may also see common traveller occupations such as hawker, pedlar, basket maker, mat maker, beehive maker, chair bottomer, sieve bottomer, tinker, tinman, razor grinder, marine store dealer, peg maker, umbrella mender, brushmaker, knife grinder, dealer, chimney sweep, horse dealer or just ‘Egyptian’.

Regional sources for Gypsy information

English Romanies and English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish Travellers moved amongst their own people and gathered at traditional stopping places.

Despite the term Traveller, many remained local to a particular area: Doncaster, Leeds, Cardiff, west London. There are also historical rural concentrations of Gypsies and Travellers in rich agricultural regions like Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Kent, Somerset and Worcestershire’s Vale of Evesham.

Local Gypsy organisations such as Leeds Gate Gypsy and Traveller Exchange can be a useful source of information. The Travellers Times also provides articles about regional communities, both current and past.

University collections of Gypsy history

Liverpool University Library houses the archive of the Gypsy Lore Society. Their journals can also be viewed on the Hathi Trust database .

The other principle collection of Gypsy, Traveller and Roma records in the UK is at the University of Leeds . The University of Reading’s Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) holds the papers of experienced Gypsy, Roma and Traveller researcher Robert Michael Dawson. If you are looking for travelling showmen, try the National Fairground and Circus Archive at the University of Sheffield.

Old Gypsy photographs

Not only were Gypsy encampments a popular subject for photographers, but family photographs were popular with Roma, Traveller and Gypsy families.

Pinterest hosts a number of images including personal ones uploaded by those researching their Romany roots, such as this one from Chris Shields . Local archives may also hold collections either left by notable Traveller families or by photographers who often romanticised the Gypsy lifestyle. MERL also has photographs, not just in the Robert Dawson collection mentioned above, but also the JE Manners collection . The Romany and Traveller Family History Society also has a collection of old photographs .

Other websites for Gypsy family history

The Romany and Traveller Family History Society provides one of the richest and most specialised resources for anyone exploring their Gypsy roots. A small annual subscription brings you their quarterly journal Romany Routes , with advice and information on British Romani, Traveller and fairground families.

In addition, don’t miss Romani , the website of Gary Stanley. It began with Gary’s research into his Romani roots, which ballooned from simple genealogy into a one-community heritage project. Gary (who you can follow on Twitter ) hunts down Romani ancestors, carefully logging and recording anything of interest that crops up in his research, before sharing it.

The net is wide, tracking and recording any mention of Romani Gypsy families and individuals between 1500 and 1900, in the UK and the USA, normally from census returns, old newspapers or birth , marriage and death records . There are also miscellaneous items, such as entries from Queen Victoria’s journals about the Cooper Romany Gypsies encamped near Claremont in Esher, Surrey.

Can DNA tests reveal Roma, Traveller or Gypsy heritage?

There are a number of projects looking at whether there are distinctive genetic traits that have been passed down by Roma, Traveller and Gypsy families. Most of the projects look at Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA test results using FamilyTreeDNA tests. Projects include the English Traveller Project , the Celtic Traveller DNA Project and RomanyDNA . Autosomal DNA tests from companies such as Ancestry offer ethnicity estimates but these are unreliable for calculating any inheritance from these communities. However, they may connect you to families with surnames associated with these communities that may help you towards uncovering a documentary connection.

Celebrities with Gypsy heritage

There have been a few celebrities on Who Do You Think You Are? who have uncovered a connection to traveller, fairground or Romani families. The artist Tracey Emin was delighted to discover her connection to the Hodgkins family of 'trampers' in her episode. David Walliams and Larry Lamb also found they had travelling fairground connections. Other celebrities with Romani heritage include Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins and Charlie Chaplin.

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Bare-Faced and Bare-Knuckled: Fighting Traveller Families

Don’t let the bandaged fist in the photo fool you. knuckle, ian palmer’s documentary about the bare-fisted boxing tradition of the irish travellers, might be about blood, but it’s not about gore. the blood palmer seems most interested in is the stuff that pumps through the veins of the intricately connected traveller community he visited and filmed over 12 years, a society where cousins marry, work together and, when the occasion arises, beat each other senseless..

Don’t let the bandaged fist in the photo fool you. Knuckle , Ian Palmer’s documentary about the bare-fisted boxing tradition of the Irish Travellers, might be about blood, but it’s not about gore. The blood Palmer seems most interested in is the stuff that pumps through the veins of the intricately connected Traveller community he visited and filmed over 12 years, a society where cousins marry, work together and, when the occasion arises, beat each other senseless.

“I wanted to make a film from inside their world,” Palmer told indie/WIRE when Knuckle premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. “The idea and the approach was simple. I spent as much time as I could with the families with a minimal crew and small camera.”

His approach resonated at HBO, which is adapting the documentary into a new drama series. Industry blogs hint that the HBO treatment will trend toward dark comedy, since it is being developed by writer Irvine Welsh (author of the gritty novel Trainspotting , on which the film of the same name was based), and director Jody Hill of Rough House Pictures, the project’s producer, whose politically incorrect comedy Easthouse & Down  also airs on HBO.

Knuckle will have its New York premiere on September 30 at Irish Film New York, which will feature five other recent Irish releases. This new screening series of contemporary Irish films is co-presented by New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House, and runs September 30 through October 2 at NYU’s Cantor Film Center.

Festival founder and curator Niall McKay, who is also the founder and director of the San Francisco Irish Film Festival and co-founder of the LA Irish Film Festival, said he deliberately chose films for the series that depict Ireland as it is today.

“I particularly wanted films that had a real physical effect on me,” he said, “ones that made me cry or laugh or get angry.”

“We’re pleased that Niall McKay has chosen to work with Glucksman Ireland House to present this excellent addition to the city’s arts scene,” said Loretta Brennan Glucksman, Chair of the Glucksman Ireland House NYU Advisory Board. She praised the festival for presenting “works that would not otherwise be seen by a wide audience.  It should be an exciting experience for our Irish American community.”  

Besides Knuckle , Irish Film New York will also feature the New York premieres of the Galway Film Fleadh-winning Parked with Colm Meany, a study of a friendship between two men who live in their cars, and The Runway , the story of a downed pilot in Cork rescued by a little boy, with Weeds star Demián Bichir.  Other films include the bittersweet coming-of-ager, 32A , directed by Marion Quinn, a hilarious peek at Dublin teenagers called Pyjama Girls , and Sensation , about a man who tries to lose his virginity but ends up running a brothel. Directors and stars of the films will appear at Q&A sessions after each screening.

There will also be an industry panel in conjunction with NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where filmmakers and producers will discuss the direction of Irish film at home and abroad. 

McKay says the mission of Irish Film New York is to expose American audiences to the best in Irish contemporary cinema and to give Irish filmmakers “a fair crack at the U.S. market.”  It will join with the San Francisco and Los Angeles Irish Film Festivals to bring the filmmakers of Knuckle , Parked , and The Runway on a tri-city tour in anticipation of each film’s U.S. release. Knuckle will appear in independent U.S. theatres this December, with The Runway and Parked following shortly after. Director Palmer admitted to Irish Independent Weekend that he did not approach the filming of Knuckle like an investigative journalist.

“It was more about observing the [Traveller] families and trying to let the life reveal itself. The reasons behind the fighting were difficult to get at. The feuds stretched back over generations. It was always about defending your name and family pride.”

The three rival families that he studied, the Quinn McDonaghs, the Nevins and the Joyces, are all related, often sharing the same grandparents. As one of the women remarks, “We’re all one in the end.” Even if a Nevin married a Quinn, or a Quinn has a mother who is a Joyce, the rationale for fighting rests on defending just one family’s name.

While Palmer is able to ferret out the powerful origin of one particular feud, the sources of the disputes don’t seem as important as the disputes themselves. “Would it not be possible for you guys to get together to talk about it and make up?” the director asks Michael Quinn McDonagh, on his way to a fight in England. “You’re crazy,” Michael laughs, dumfounded at Palmer’s naiveté.

The matches are called “fair fights” and are organized with unexpected formality: when a challenge is issued, it is promptly accepted, a date and location are set, and the fighters hit the gym to train weeks  before the match. Fair fights take place in secret locations with few onlookers. There are referees from neutral families and lots of rules. And everybody obeys the rules. Anyone who doesn’t is disqualified, and his family takes the loss.

Technology and money play crucial roles in this tradition-bound ritual: Families exchange videotaped challenges and fight results are reported by cell phones. Bets are negotiated for astonishing amounts of cash; winner (and family) takes all.

The fighters accept Palmer’s presence with the nonchalance of a generation bred on reality TV.  But despite his desire to let the story emerge from the people themselves, they never forget the camera is there. Dodging it, challenging it, playing with it, they turn the camera – with narrator Palmer – into another character in the film.

Palmer said it was only during editing that he realized that the narrative would work better if he allowed himself to be an obvious part of his film. “The film is more honest for accepting that Knuckle is my experience of this world,” he said, “and my relationship to the people in the film and how that affected me.”

His “shaky cam” character dances around the fair fight scenes with a perilous immediacy. At any moment, you expect a fist to fly into the lens. Because he interviews both families involved in a fight, Palmer never appears to be taking sides. Even though he follows one fighter’s story more closely than others, he is not making a fight movie. There is no  Big Match to decide it all, no good guys or bad.    James Quinn McDonagh, the soft-spoken man whose winning battles form the core of the film, says over and over again he doesn’t want to fight, but is provoked into it by the other families, claiming he’d like “to be known for something more positive.”

James doesn’t like to train either. “I’d rather be socializing,” he quips. But when a challenge comes from the Joyces or the Nevins, he comes out with fists blaring. “It’s the best way to sort things out,” he explains. Even after he swears off fighting, he is seen anxiously prepping his brother by cell phone before a fight, exclaiming as he waits for the results, “Grandfathers in Heaven, send Michael the power!” 

Why do the fights continue? Palmer sees “fair fighting as still mainly about family and individual honor and pride,” a deeply felt emotion expressed here in macho posturing: “We will fight because we are men, we’re Joyce men.”

Then there’s the fast cash from the betting. The suggestion of inconsistent employment implies that fighting is a needed source of income, and might also be a way to establish self-respect when the outside world offers too little.

But within a closed community, the flip side of self-respect can be a cult of personality. Joe Joyce, an older man who nevertheless continues to fight, boasts, “I’m still King of the Travellers!” One of James’ opponents, the dewy-faced youngster, Davy Nevins, says the fights are not about revenge.

“James thinks he’s better than us,” he explains calmly. “People think he’s a god.  I don’t want to defeat the Quinns, I just want to defeat James.”

Some Nevins relatives suggest a possible link between being a Traveller and the need to keep fighting. When an old man muses, “There’s always been wars,” the younger Spike Nevin replies, “But we’re Travellers. At least wars are about something. Something right.”

Conspicuously absent from the film are Traveller women, who are reluctant to appear on camera. Yet, the only strong voices condemning the fighting come from a sofa full of older women gathered for an after-fight party. “I think it should end,” one woman states firmly. “All this fighting over names. It’s an awful life to have. It should be finished.”

“I don’t know what they’re fighting for,” James’ mother adds.

“When my sons grow up, they aren’t doing it,” a much younger woman declares with convincing resolution. But she quickly adds a caveat, “If I can help it.” 

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