Clues to Irish Naming Sources

Question

Can anyone explain the Irish prefix Bally and its meaning?  I see Ballyplaces like Ballykennedy, et al.  Does this have any correlation to the name Kennedy for example?  I'm not trying to match up with JFK . . LOL but could  the second half be for a family of that place?

Addon,, just found: "Bally is an extremely common prefix to town names in Ireland, and is derived from the Gaelic phrase 'Baile na', meaning 'place of'. It is not quite right to translate it 'town of', as there were few, if any, towns in Ireland at the time these names were formed.

Guess I answered myself, but are there any other thoughts on this?

Answer 1

It just means “Place of” or “Town of”  so yes, it could be named for a local family.  Lots of “Bally” places are connected with landmarks of some kind, a bridge, a ford,a castle, etc.

Comments

Thanks, Kathie, good to have more support for it!  I bbelieve it is helping me identify a family from the 1600s Co Antrim.