Ballybeen, County Down

Background

Part of Dundonald, 7.5km E of Belfast city centre

par: Dundonald bar: Castlereagh Lower

The name of the townland of Ballybeen is recorded as Ballibeine in 1605 and as Ballebeene in 1623. The most satisfactory interpretation of the place-name appears to be Baile Bín ‘townland of Bean’, the final element representing a gaelicised form of the English surname ‘Bean’ which according to Hanks and Hodges (1988, 40) can be 1.‘a metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of beans…occasionally a nickname for a man of little importance 2.a nickname for a pleasant person, from Medieval English bene ‘friendly, amiable’’. There is another townland named Ballybeen a short distance to the south, in the parish of Comber.

References

McKay, P. (2007): A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names, p. 11; P. McKay, 2009

Additional Information

Historical name form

Old Form	Ref. Date	Reference
Baile-binne, the town of the peak	1913	Joyce iii 71
Baile Bín	1969	AGBP 113
Baile Bín	1989	GÉ 16
Baile Bín ""townland of Bean""	1999	Dict. Ulst. PN 11
probably Baile Binne "townland of the pointed rock"	2003	HMC replies HMCjun03
Ballibeine	1605	Inq. Ult. (Down) $2 Jac. I
(?)Ballybin	1612	CPR Jas I 236a
Ballebeene	1623	Ham. Copy Inq. [1623] xlii
Ballebein	1623	Ham. Copy Inq. [1623] xlv
Ba: Binn, part of	1625c	Raven Map Clandeboye 33
Balle Binn	1625c	Raven Map Clandeboye 33
Ballybynn	1625c	Raven Map Clandeboye 30
Ballybynn	1625c	Raven Map Clandeboye 30
Ballebein	1645	Inq. Ult. (Down) $104 Car. I
B:Bine	1659c	Census 1659 87
Ballebeene	1661	BSD 127
Ballebeene	1661	BSD 125
Ballybine	1663	Sub. Roll Down 284
Ballybeen	1745	Map of Down (OSNB) No. 48
Ballybeen	1745	Map of Down (OSNB) No. 48
Ballybeen	1810	Wm. Map (OSNB) No. 48
Ballybeen	1810	Wm. Map (OSNB) No. 48
Ballybeen	1830c	Bnd. Sur. (OSNB) No. 48
Ballybeen	1830c	Bnd. Sur. (OSNB) No. 48
Baile Binne	1834c	J O'D (OSNB) No. 38

Barony

Castlereagh Lower

Parish

Dundonald

Parish in 1851

Dundonald

Townland

None

Place name ID

6814

Place name type

T