• Sometimes names become extinct or are near extinction on the Island. You may have to do some serious digging before finding any information or you may never find any record of your family due to there being no written record of the name. You may however get lucky and find a notation on a passenger list. Remember entire families moved from the Island during the famine years.
• Also one must note that many Irish names do not look Irish. They are indeed of French, Spanish, Norse, English, and Scottish extraction. Just because a name doesn't look Irish doesn't mean it isn't. For example Cohen or Koen is not a Jewish name in Ireland and it would be a mistake to assume it. Roche is a common name in Ireland and it is of french extraction. Even Ireland's first President, Eamon DeValera, was of Spanish extraction.
• Irish emigrants were often at the mercy of the record keepers at the destination port. Record keepers would spell the name any way that sounded familiar to them. This is also how we get the Mac and Mc's all turned around. It's important to note that in modern times Mac, Mc and O have often been dropped from names even in Ireland. Make certain you look for records accordingly.
• Never stop with the last name either. Your ancestor may have had the name Catherine or Katherine. The Irish spelling of that name is quite varied. It can be spelled also as Katerina, Cait, Caitrín or Cáitriona. Helen is spelled Léan or Léana. So, for example, if your Irish family ancestor's name was Helen Koen, you might actually have to know before hand that her name was spelled Léana O'Comhdhain. You can find out more on your Irish names at Irish Names
My best advice is be armed with the correct spellings of names in English and Irish along with the many variations before researching in Irish records. You've spent a lot of time and trouble getting this far. You would not want to look twice in the same records because you didn't do a little preliminary work.
Happy hunting!
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