Frequently asked questions

Trace Ireland is an Irish surname-to-county heritage itinerary service for people with Irish roots. You enter your Irish family surname and our heritage team creates a personalised Heritage Package connecting your name to its likely ancestral county, clan history, heritage sites and travel recommendations.

Trace Ireland is for anyone with Irish roots who wants to connect their family name to the places in Ireland their ancestors likely came from. It is particularly suited to:

• Irish Americans, Irish Australians and Irish Canadians planning a trip to Ireland
• People who have already booked a trip to Ireland and want to make it more meaningful
• Anyone curious about the history and origin of their Irish surname
• People looking for a unique and personal gift for someone with Irish heritage

Trace Ireland maps a surname to likely Irish origins, county, history and travel ideas. For each surname we provide:

• The origin and meaning of the name
• Its most common ancestral county in Ireland
• The history of the name in Ireland and beyond
• Hand-picked recommendations for an ancestral discovery trip around that county

It is important to be clear about what Trace Ireland does not do. It does not:

• Verify an individual lineage
• Replace formal genealogical research
• Prove a specific ancestor came from a specific parish without records
• Build a family tree or trace specific individuals

If you are looking to verify specific family connections or access historical records, we recommend working with a professional genealogist or visiting the National Library of Ireland.

Every Heritage Package is researched and written by our Irish heritage team, made up of historians, genealogists and local guides based in Ireland. We go beyond surface-level information, drawing on historical records, archives and local knowledge to piece together your family name's unique connection to Ireland.

We currently cover over 1,000 Irish surnames spanning all 32 counties of Ireland. These include the most common names such as Murphy, Kelly, Walsh, Ryan, Sullivan, Byrne, O'Brien, Doyle and Gallagher, as well as hundreds of less common Gaelic surnames.

If you search for a name and it is not in our database, you will be shown the closest matches. You can also contact us directly at [email protected] and our team will research it personally.

Yes. Irish surnames were frequently anglicised and recorded in many different spellings over centuries of British administration. Our search uses intelligent matching to find the closest name in our database. For example, O'Brien, O'Brian and Obrien will all return the same result.

If the spelling you enter does not match exactly, the site will suggest the closest alternatives from our database.

Many surnames associated with Ireland arrived with Norman settlers in the 12th century — names like Walsh, Burke, Fitzgerald and Power are all Norman in origin but became deeply Irish over centuries. If you believe you have Irish roots through any family name, it is worth searching for it.

If we do not have your surname in our database, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will look into it for you.

Trace Ireland offers two options, both including the same content:

• Standard — $25 USD. Delivered within 5 working days.
• Fast Track — $35 USD. Delivered within 48 hours.

Both options include your name's origin and meaning, its most common ancestral county, the history of your name in Ireland and beyond, hand-picked travel recommendations and your unique Heritage Package shared by email.

Your Heritage Package will be delivered to the email address you provide at checkout. It arrives as a PDF document that you can read on any device, print at home or share with family members.

Payments are processed securely through Stripe. We accept all major credit and debit cards including Visa, Mastercard and American Express. All transactions are SSL encrypted.

If you are not satisfied with your Heritage Package, please contact us at [email protected] within 14 days of purchase and we will do our best to make it right. We take pride in the quality of our work and will always try to resolve any issues personally.

Absolutely. Many people use Trace Ireland before booking a trip to help them decide where in Ireland to go. Knowing that your family name is connected to, say, County Clare or County Donegal can completely shape where you choose to travel. Your Heritage Package gives you a starting point for planning a trip that is genuinely personal rather than a generic Irish holiday.

Yes — in fact this is exactly the kind of trip Trace Ireland was designed to enhance. Your Heritage Package will give you a curated list of places to visit in your ancestral county, the background history to bring those places to life, and the context to understand why they matter to your family name. It turns a holiday into something you will remember for the rest of your life.

Yes, absolutely. Your Heritage Package is a PDF and you can forward it to anyone you like. Many customers buy it as a gift for parents or grandparents, or share it with siblings and cousins before a family trip to Ireland together.

You can reach us at [email protected]. Our team is based in Ireland and we respond to every message personally, typically within 24 hours.

Email us at [email protected] with your surname and any information you have about your Irish roots. Our team will research it and get back to you. We are constantly expanding our database and your query helps us prioritise which surnames to add next.