HANRATTY Family History

This uncommon name is of Gaelic Irish origin, and is a variant from of the more familiar surname Hanratty, the Anglicized form of the ancient Gaelic "O'hAnrachtaigh", derived from "anrachtach", unlawful. The sept was, and in fact still is, found chiefly in the old territory of Oriel, comprising Counties Armagh and Monaghan and parts of south Down, Louth and Fermanagh. It was descended from Ionrachtach, a scion of the Maguires, and the chiefs of the O'Hanraghtys (the earlier and now obsolete form of anratty), of whom several are mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters between 1019 and 1161, held a large territory in the northern part of the modern County Louth.