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Irish surname

Lee: Irish Surname History & Coat of Arms

Ó Laoidhigh / Mac an Leagha / Mac Laoidhigh · 'descendant of Laoidheach' (poetic); Mac an Leagha 'son of the physician'

Woulfe (1923) prints Lee under several separate names: Ó Laoidhigh ('descendant of Laoidheach', poetic), a West Connacht family best known as a medical family; Mac Laoidhigh, an old family in Leix; Mac an Leagha ('son of the physician'); and Liath ('grey'). He also gives de Léigh (Norman 'de Leye', Middle English 'atte Lea', at the legh or meadow), a family that came to Ireland about the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. He gives no single origin for every Lee. In 1890 Matheson called it 'A very scattered name'.

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Coat of arms associated with the Lee surname
Irish formÓ Laoidhigh / Mac an Leagha / Mac Laoidhigh
Meaning'descendant of Laoidheach' (poetic); Mac an Leagha 'son of the physician'
CountiesAntrim, Dublin, Galway, Limerick
Other spellings6
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Lee crest gifts

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Origin of the Lee name

Woulfe: Ó Laoidhigh, a West Connacht family, chiefs of Ui Briuin Eola (MacFirbis), erenaghs of Annadown, hereditary physicians to the O'Flahertys. Also Mac Laoidhigh, an old Leix family; Mac an Leagha 'son of the physician'; Liath 'grey'; and de Léigh (Norman 'de Leye'), a family settled in Meath, Kildare, Kilkenny, etc.[1][2][3][4][5]

  1. 1890120 Lee birth entries in Ireland including spelling varieties (118 spelled Lee).[6]

Where in Ireland

Co. AntrimMatheson 1890: 50 per cent. found in Antrim, Dublin, Galway, and Limerick.[6]
Co. DublinMatheson 1890: among the four counties holding 50 per cent.[6]
Co. GalwayMatheson 1890: among the four counties holding 50 per cent.[6]
Co. LimerickMatheson 1890: among the four counties holding 50 per cent.[6]

Other spellings

O'Lee · Leigh · Lea · MacLee · Leagh · Legge[1]

The Lee coat of arms

The design shown is a coat of arms associated with the Lee surname. In Irish and British heraldry a coat of arms is granted to one person and passes to their heirs; it does not belong to everyone who shares the surname. Many families still use the arms of their name as a symbol of their heritage.

Lee surname: questions

What does the surname Lee mean in Irish?

Woulfe gives several: Ó Laoidhigh 'descendant of Laoidheach' (poetic); Mac Laoidhigh 'son of Laoidheach'; Mac an Leagha 'son of the physician'; and Liath 'grey, hoary', an epithet that supplanted the real surname.[1][2][3][5]

Where in Ireland is the Lee name from?

Woulfe says the Ó Laoidhigh were a West Connacht family, chiefs of Ui Briuin Eola according to MacFirbis, and the Mac Laoidhigh an old family in Leix. Matheson's 1890 index calls Lee 'a very scattered name'.[1][2][6]

Is Lee an Irish or English name?

Woulfe lists Lee under several Irish names and also under de Léigh (Latin 'de Lega', Norman 'de Leye', Middle English 'atte Lea', i.e. at the legh or meadow), a family that came to Ireland about the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion.[1][2][3][4][5]

Were the O'Lees physicians?

Woulfe says the Ó Laoidhigh were best known as a medical family, for many centuries hereditary physicians to the O'Flahertys.[1]

Sources

  1. Ó Laoidhigh — Irish Names and Surnames (Rev. Patrick Woulfe, 1923), transcribed, LibraryIreland.com. libraryireland.com/names/ol/o-laoidhigh.php
  2. Mac Laoidhigh — Irish Names and Surnames (Rev. Patrick Woulfe, 1923), transcribed, LibraryIreland.com. libraryireland.com/names/macl/mac-laoidhigh.php
  3. Mac an Leagha — Irish Names and Surnames (Rev. Patrick Woulfe, 1923), transcribed, LibraryIreland.com. libraryireland.com/names/maca/mac-an-leagha.php
  4. de Léigh — Irish Names and Surnames (Rev. Patrick Woulfe, 1923), transcribed, LibraryIreland.com. libraryireland.com/names/d/de-leigh.php
  5. Liath — Irish Names and Surnames (Rev. Patrick Woulfe, 1923), transcribed, LibraryIreland.com. libraryireland.com/names/l/liath.php
  6. Lee — Birth Indexes of 1890 — Special Report on Surnames in Ireland (Robert E. Matheson, 1909), transcribed, LibraryIreland.com. libraryireland.com/matheson/report/births/lee.php

Note: Matheson's 1890 figures for a surname include its spelling varieties (Matheson, Table Explanation).