Blair Collection > Surnames & place-names of the Isle of Man

94 manx Surnames.
Garret may come from the Anglo-Norman Gerald,
but is more likely to have come to us from the
Scandinavians.*
Gale, also possibly of Anglo-Norman origin ; as ' the
Burkes of Gallstown and Balmontin, County Kil-
kenny, who descended from the Red Earl of Ulster,
took the name of Gall, or foreigner,' f and the
Stapletons, of Westmeath, took that of Mac an
Ghaill, is more probably a name given by the
natives to strangers who settled in the Isle of Man.
Kerruish (pronounced Kerreush), contracted from
MacFeorais, ' Pierce's son,' and Corris, from
MacOrish, another form of MacFeorais. The
powerful Anglo-Norman family of Bermingham,
Barons of Athenry, took the name of MacFeorais
or MacOrish from an ancestor Pierce, Pieras, or
Feoras, the son of Meyler Bermingham. J
'Andrew MacFeorais,' a.d. 132 i.§
It is remarkable that in the parishes where
Kerruish is found, Corris is not. The former is
almost confined to the parish of Maughold, while
the latter is very common in the parish of German.
The distich
'Christian, Callow, and Kerruish,
All the rest are refuse !'
is still to be heard in Maughold, and is not so
sweeping a condemnation as might be supposed,
* See p. 86.
t O'Donovan, Introduction to Poems, pp 22-24.
j O'Donovan, p. 22.
§ Four Mast., Vol. Ill,, p. 370.