Walsh
This Irish name is actually an English language formulation meaning Welshman. In the two books of Edward Rutherfurd's Irish saga, which discusses the origin of the name, the fictional Walshes come from Wales at the time of Strongbow in the twelfth century, but are actually knights of Flemish ancestry. Associated with an actual family, the Walshes of Carrickmines, this fictional family usually manages, by a series of compromises, to maintain their position in society, and even their Catholic faith, under the English Ascendancy. But sometimes this fails, with tragic consequences.
