select.surname.list

Walsh was a semi-translation of the early Gaelic Breatnach, meaning Welsh or Briton, later anglicized as Branagh and then Walsh.

Select Walsh Resources on The Internet

• Walsh Family Genealogy and History.  Walshes in Ireland and England.
• Walsh Family History.  Descendants of Thomas Walsh from Limerick.
• Walsh.  Walshes from Ireland to North Carolina.

England.  While the Walsh name is generally considered as Irish, there were English antecedents.  The family name le Waleys (meaning from Wales and an early form of Walsh) was to be found in west country and other records by the 13th century.  Henry le Waleys was Lord Mayor of London in 1273.  The Walshes of Cathanger in Somerset and the Walshes of Little Sodbury in Gloucestershire were prominent local gentry in their areas in the 16th century.   

Ireland.  The name Walsh was first used to describe the Welsh who had arrived in Ireland in the wake of Strongbow's Anglo-Norman invasion of 1170. The name appeared in early records as Walensis and then as Waleys.  They were for many years regarded as English by the Irish and Irish by the English. 

In Kilkenny there were the Walshes of the Mountains and the Walshes of Balynacooly.  The forebear of the Walshes of the Mountains was said to have been Philip Walensis or Brannagh (the Welshman), who came to Ireland with Strongbow in 1170.  Their stronghold was Castlehale and the Walsh mountains in Kilkenny was named after them.  The Walshes of Balynacooly were a subsidiary branch which began in the late 1500's. Both these Walshes lost out heavily during the Cromwellian confiscations.  James Walsh of Balynacooly commanded the ship which brought James II to France after the Battle of the Boyne.

Another early Walsh pedigree, this time in Rathronan in Tipperary, began with William Walensis in the 13th century.  And the Walshes were also established from an early time at Ballyrichmore in county Waterford. Generally the Walsh name arose independently in many different places, one reason for its profusion as a surname today.  The name is particularly prevalent in Mayo, Kilkenny, Waterford, and Wexford.    

Thomas FitzAnthony Walsh from Kilkenny was Governor of Leinster in the 13th century.
Rev. Thomas Walsh was the much persecuted 17th century Archbishop of Cashel.
David Walsh was the first Irish Catholic Governor of Massachusetts in 1914.
Bill Walsh was the highly successful football coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

Courtney Walsh was one of the great fast bowlers in the West Indies cricket team of the 1980's and 1990's.