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In the mid-1800's a number of Irish families arrived in America and gave rise to several Harrington lineages which have continued to this day. But there are a number of unanswered questions about this group. Are they actually related to the English Harrington lines? If not, are they at least related to one another? Is there any way to tell?

English Roots?

It is not impossible that some Irish Harrington lines arose from English Harrington roots. In the 18th century, a number of English families from the Cumberland/Northumbria area were resettled into certain areas of Ireland. Over time these families embraced Irish culture and "became more Irish than the Irish". By the 19th century, these settlers were virtually indistinguishable from their Irish countrymen.

While no Harringtons have been placed in the Cumberland/Northumbria area of England so far, there is a town on the coast named Harrington. Speculation about the origin of the surname has suggested that the early Harringtons were herring fishermen, which would imply a coastal origin. Thus, it is possible Harringtons were brought to Ireland from this area during the resettlement efforts.

However, this hypothesis rests on very shaky ground, and cannot be considered anything but speculation without much more thorough investigation.

Irish Phonetics and Anglicization

In Ireland there are wide variations in surname spellings, many of which are localized to particular areas. This is because Ireland only within the last couple centuries adopted the English written language. When writing was first introduced, surname spellings were done phonetically, thus resulting in a wide variety of spellings for essentially the same surname; usually everyone in a particular locale would spell the name the same way, but 70 miles away it'd be spelled very differently.

Shortly thereafter, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, under English influence, the Irish began standardizing and Anglicising their surname spellings. True origins of surnames were ignored; if the spelling looked anything like Harrington, it was spelled that way.

Around 1992, Harold Herrington, a cousin of Tom Blackwell (one of our frequent HarrGene contributors) spent several hours going through a complete set of phone books of Ireland and Northern Ireland. He found not a single 'E' spelling of the name in the entirety of the Emerald Isle. The frequency of the 'A' spelling led him to the conclusion that the 'E' spelling indicated a non-19th century Irish origin [which corresponds well to what is found amongst the descendants of Benjamin Herendeen.]

He goes on to say,

Harrington is originally a name of the Strath-Clyde Britons, predating the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Their area was about a seventy five mile radius of what is now Glasgow, Scotland. Records show Harrington's in the army of Strongbow, in his invasion of Ireland. Also, Irish records show two principle old Irish manes being changed to Harrington. These are OhIngarty, and OhIngardail. The final form of many of these names often bear little phonetic resemblance to the original. These families are mostly found in the border region of Counties Cork and Kerry, but are also found in the area east of Galway. There are Harringtons found in Ulster, but they are possibly of a different blood stock. I say possibly because some records show Harrington's, that fought with Strongbow, having been awarded lands in Counties Cork or Kerry. Whom are we to believe?

OhIongardial

I do want to clarify the spelling of an old Irish name to which I made reference. The name is OhIongardial [Sometimes spelled Urdail in older records.] I think the pronunciation is like O'hungerdial. It is a name no longer in existence, at least not to my knowledge, having been Anglicized to Harrington. It is difficult to make any hard and fast rules here, since many of the Irish are going back to the old Celtic form and spelling of their name. This is something that I believe the government encourages, or at least makes easy, particularly with the strengthening of national pride now present in Ireland.

One other comment, from a conversation with an Irish man from County Kerry, was that Harrington is a "Left-Footer" name. He, when he realized that I was not familiar with the expression, explained that it meant that the name is regarded as Protestant. He said that most of the Harringtons are "Church of Ireland", that being the principal Protestant church in Ireland. It is the same as the church called "Anglican" in England, but an Irishman would not call it that if you held a gun to his head. In Scotland it is called "Church of Scotland". The fact that Harrington is regarded as a Protestant name is not definitive proof, but, it does lead one to believe that the name may well have originated as a Lowland Scots name, they being mostly Protestant, either Calvinist or "Church of Scotland". Most of the Protestants in Ireland are remnants of the "Ascendancy", they being those persons awarded land by the English Crown. This was usually for military service. English and Scottish genealogical records indicate that the Harringtons in Counties Cork and Kerry are such a case, having been awarded land for military service. Irish records state that Harrington, if descended from Irish blood stock, came about as the Anglicization of one of several old Irish names, as previously stated. Both statements are probably correct. My family always referred to themselves as Scots Irish, this being another way of saying Ulster Irish, or Protestant Irish.

Martin Roberts, another frequent HarrGene contributor, added:

What Tom's friend Harold says about the possible lowland Scots origin is consistent with what we know about English origins. We don't know what happened to the first few generations of descendants of the Norman Harrington family founder (de haverington) who lived on the north east English coast. Some of them could have easily gone to Scotland and/or Ireland with various armies or otherwise.

Research into Irish Harrington Origins

Michele Patin provides some tips for researchers investigating origins of Harringtons in Ireland:

If your Irish Harrington is Church of Ireland and/or your Irish Harrington appears in civil records as a landowner in the 19th century, it's a good bet you are descended from an English Harrington (though proving the connection may still be tricky). In that event, turn to property records such as deeds and wills, also military records, fiants and even published pedigrees to find your link.

If, on the other hand, your Irish Harrngtons are Roman Catholic and/or are tenant farmers (or maybe merchants/laborers) in the 19th century, it's a good bet you are descended from an Irishman with a different surname altogether, who either adopted the name or came to be known by it through common usage. In that event, your ancestor will be still more difficult to track down.

Thanks to Thomas F. Blackwell, P.C., Chicago-Kent College of Law and Michele Patin for this information and line of research.

Famous Irish Harringtons

Golfer Padraig Harrington.

Other Irish Harringtons

Eddie Harrington

Immigrants