In Romeo and Juliet, when Shakespeare asks, “What’s in a name?” he implies that while names distinguish things or people, names themselves do not have worth or meaning. Value lies with the essence of the thing or the person.
I proudly wore the name “Mary Ann Dolan” from birth, until I married in 1989 and happily adopted my husband’s surname, “O’Keeffe.” While each name reflects our shared Irish heritage, and I love them both, the later has a few “gotchas” that have added color to my life, especially in the digital age! Even with famous O’Keeffe’s like modernist painter Georgia, common misspellings run rampant. In recent news, in fact, Georgia O’Keeffe’s last name was missing an ‘f’ on a concourse-level wall engraving in NY’s newly unveiled Grand Central Madison terminal! To add to the fun, my first name is in fact two names: Mary + Ann. As you can probably imagine, misspellings like Maryann O’Keefe, Maryann OKeefe, Maryanne Okefe, Marianne Okeefee and Mary Anne O’Keffe pop up here and there. But, as the middle child in a family of 9 kids, I’ve been conditioned to roll with the punches in all things, including those to do with my name!
In honor of Irish-American heritage month, here’s a little background on each of my Irish surnames:
Dolan: (Irish: Ó Dubhláin, Ó Dúláin, Ó Duibhlin , Ó Dubhshláin). The Dolan family traces its origin back to Fiacha Suighe, the son of Fedlimid Rechtmar, the High King of Ireland from 110 AD to 119 AD. The name is fairly common today in Ulster, particularly in counties Cavan and Leitrim (where my paternal grandfather was born). All four of my grandparents hailed from Ireland: counties Cavan, Leitrim, Galway and Clare (a bit more on them later!).
O’Keeffe: (Irish: O’Caoimh/Caomh). It has links to Irish Royalty, with the family descended from Art Caemh, the son of Finguine. Like me, all four of my husband’s grandparents emigrated from Ireland. And if you’ve ever been curious, O’ is unique to Ireland, derived from the Irish word “ua,” also abbreviated as uí or Ó, meaning “grandson of.”
As you can tell, I’m quite proud of my heritage and ancestry. Like many Irish in the early 1900’s, my paternal and maternal grandparents emigrated to the United States, specifically to New York City, where each couple met and married and where my parents were born in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Irish culture was a consistent presence in my upbringing and I, and my 8 siblings, all learned to Irish dance and play Irish music. In March of 1984, our family band even performed at the White House for President Ronald Reagan, First Lady Nancy Reagan, Taoiseach of Ireland Garret FitzGerald and his wife Joan!
So, to you and yours from me and mine this St. Patrick’s Day season: Go raibh míle maith agat, “that you may have a thousand good things!”
