Talk:Walsh (surname)

"Breton"? Unlikely

More properly it means "Briton" in the sense of "Brythonic-speaking Celtic inhabitant of Britain"---more or less equivalent today to "Welsh" but likely including Cumbrians and Cornish at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland.

While there were some Bretons---as in "from Brittany"---serving in the forces of the Norman invaders, they would have been far outnumbered by Britons. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.221.240.20 (talk) 11:21, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

I still find it interesting how everyone states Walsh is an Irish name. The Walsh in my lineage can be traced back 11 generations and they're all English. Not even 1 Irish person in it? I assume the original Walsh in my tree was actually Welsh, and they then moved to England where they then stayed. I'm going to have to try and trace it back further to confirm 100% but why is it always implied that they all went to Ireland (or that Walsh is an Irish name). Shouldn't it more accurately be labeled a Welsh name? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 180.200.144.178 (talk) 05:16, 11 May 2014 (UTC)

Relationship to "Breathnach"

There is an Irish surname "Breathnach" with a confusing relationship to "Walsh". There are a lot of people who are called "Walsh" in English, but are called "Breathnach" in Gaelic, as if the two names were translations of each other. (They almost are, because "Breathnach" means "Briton, native of Britain" in Gaelic, and Walsh means "Welshman", or earlier, "foreigner", in English. Remember that to speakers of Old English, Welsh people were foreigners.)

The existing article hints at the relationship, in a sentence that mentions "Breathnach" and its English spelling "Brannagh" (but it neglects "Branagh", which I think is a variant of the same name). But the existing text is a bit confusing, and doesn't say whether all Breathnachs call themselves "Walsh" in English, or whether all Walshes call themselves "Breathnach" in Gaelic. I would like to know, but the article doesn't say. I think an entire brief section called "Relationship to 'Breathnach'" wouldn't be amiss.

ACW (talk) 19:45, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

Motto

The translation of the Walsh motto is ‘Pierced but not dead’.

However is commonly miss translated. ‘Transfixus send non mortuus’. Transfixus translates to ‘Transfixed’ however in this context should be translated to ‘Pierced’. As the Swan which adorns the coat of arms is ‘pierced’ by an arrow. (However this is commonly overlooked during duplication). 2A00:23C5:A00:901:9CD6:9982:6E81:507 (talk) 18:47, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

Isn’t there so many Walsh’s who isn’t on the list?

My father is a Walsh and his family is Walsh’s but they aren’t on the list. Is this because we’re normal citizens? 77.33.171.71 (talk) 01:22, 2 January 2023 (UTC)