Beatles Excerpt from daytripping.com- Liverpool has been called the “Capital of Ireland” because an estimated three-quarters of its people have Irish roots. Irish immigrants poured into Liverpool after the 1798 rebellion as well as the Great Famine of the 1840s, greatly impacting its demographic make-up.
Three-quarters of the Beatles also have Irish roots– Ringo Starr is the only Beatle with no trace of Irish background.
The Lennon family crest
John Lennon – The Lennon name is an anglicized derivative of the Irish O’Lennon, which is a descendant of the ancient Gaelic Ó Leannáin septs. In ancient Celtic legends, the stag in the crest (here shown as the anglicized “Lennon”) implies spiritual guides or priests.
The Gaelic meaning of Ó Leannáin is “love”; ironic considering the message of love that John delivered to the world through songs like “All You Need is Love.”
John, searching for information about his family history, looked up the name “Lennon” in the book Irish Families, Their Names, Arms and Origins by E. MacLysaght in 1974 and found the name “(O’Lennon)”. He quoted from its passages on the booklet included inside his Walls and Bridges album, which reads, “No person of the name Lennon has distinguished himself in the political, military or cultural life of Ireland (or England for that matter).”
John’s direct ancestral line was misstated for many years due to a mistake that got republished a countless number of times in many books. Most fans know his father was Alfred Lennon (1912-1976) and his grandfather was “Jack” Lennon (1855-1921), born in Liverpool. Newer research clarifies that his great-grandfather was James Lennon, born in County Down, south of Belfast in Northern Ireland, and that James’ father was Patrick Lennon, an Irish farmer.
George Harrison – George’s Irish ancestors were from his mother’s French family from County Wexford. According to The Beatles Ireland website, his line traces back to 13th century Norman knights with the name of Ffrench, (with a second f, later dropped) who settled in County Wexford at the time of William the Conqueror. They owned significant landholdings, but when Oliver
Cromwell came to power, they were stripped of all their land when they refused to renounce their Catholic beliefs. From then on they lived in poverty, struggling to stay alive on their tiny farm at Corah, County Wexford, which was finally sold by the family in 1911. George, after the beatles, maintained strong connections to his Irish cousins. As late as 2001, just before his death, he visited them in Drumcondra, near Dublin.
Paul McCartney does have Irish roots on his paternal side, but it’s unclear exactly where they were from. More is known about his mother, Mary Mohin. Mary’s father, Owen Mohin, was from Tullynamalroe in County Monaghan. He changed his surname to ‘Mohan’ and moved to Liverpool, where he worked as a coal-man.
