Carroll Irish Family Gifts & Heritage

Carroll is the English form of Ó Cearbhaill, “descendant of Cearbhall,” one of the most popular personal names of early Ireland. Carroll and O’Carroll share that root, and today the name ranks among the twenty-five most common in the country.

Two great families carried it. The O’Carrolls of Eile, or Ely, descend from Cearbhall, lord of Eile, who fought at Clontarf in 1014; their lordship reached across what is now County Offaly and north Tipperary, and they held Ely O’Carroll from their seat at Birr. Tadhg Ailbhe O’Carroll, who fell at Callan in 1407, was the most powerful of their medieval kings. A separate Ó Cearbhaill family, of the same stock as the MacMahons and Maguires, ruled Oriel in Louth and Monaghan, where the name is still strong. Across the Atlantic, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a descendant of the Ely line, signed the Declaration of Independence and outlived every other signer.

The Carroll range brings the name home on a woven blanket and a printed throw on the Irish National Tartan, joined by a family crest mug, a framed tartan Christmas ornament and a Celtic harp T-shirt. Read the full story in our Carroll surname history.