In October 2011 I posted "Location, Location, Location," a short article about an Irish placenames database. Since then I guess I haven't had occasion to use the database and its helpful website, and it slipped my mind. A blog-reader recently posed a question about her ancestors' home of origin, and IGSI's expert researcher Beth Mullinax refreshed my memory about the placenames website, www.logainm.ie.

A refresher about the database: Ireland’s geographical names originate from several languages (Irish, English, and Old Norse). The process of anglicizing all Irish placenames, culminating in the Ordnance Survey maps of the 19th century, "resulted in rendering the names unintelligible" according to Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig, a leading authority on Irish placenames. Starting in 2007, Dublin City College and the government's Placenames Branch have been working to develop comprehensive guidance. The website is excellent.

The Irish placenames database is fully searchable by name or part of a name -- in English or Irish. In fact, you don't need to have an exact spelling of the placename to find out more, i.e., where it is and historical variations of the name.

Our blog reader had been told the family of her great-great-grandfather (born in North Carolina in 1777) came from "Skilton," Ireland. No map or other source showed a place by that name.

However, when one queries the logainm.ie website with the word "Skilton," the response identifies the townland "Rosskelton" in County Laois. The townland's location is shown on a map, and a listing of archive references is provided by date and record type. Placename spellings like "Skelton rathe" (1569) and "Roskilton" (1666) seem to indicate this is the "Skilton" we were seeking.

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