Ballymacruise, County Down
Origin
Ir. Baile Mhic Naosa ‘MacNeice’s townland’
Background
The second element of Ballymacruise is obviously a surname and the 17th-century spellings suggest Baile Mhic Naosa, where Naosa is a contraction of Aonghasa. Mac Naosa is usually anglicized Mac Neice or Mac Creesh. The r in Macruise arises from the well-known phenomenon of cn (in this case the c of Mac and n of Naosa) giving a pronunciation [kr] in the Irish spoken in the northern half of Ireland (O’Rahilly 1932: 22-4).
References
Hannan R. J. (1992): Place-Names of Northern Ireland vol. 2 p. 184Additional Information
Historical name form
| Old Form | Ref. Date | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Bally Mc Chrews | 1652 | Montgomery MSS 135 n.41 |
| Bally Mc Shrew | 1659 | Census 1659 93 |
| Ballemc chrew | 1661 | BSD 88 |
| Ballymacrews | 1810 | Wm. Map (OSNB) E 167, E 24 |
| Ballymacruise | 1830c | Bnd. Sur. (OSNB) E 167, E 24 |
| Ballymacruse | 1833 | High Const. Applot. (OSNB) E 167, E 24 |
"Macruise''s town" | 1834c | J O'D (OSNB) E 167, E 24 |
Baile Mhic Crúis | 1905 | Post-Sheanchas 96 |
- Barony
- Ards Lower
- Parish
- Donaghadee
- Parish in 1851
- Donaghadee
- Townland
- None
- Place name ID
- 6752
- Place name type
- T