Among the synonyms officially reported by local registrars and recorded by Matheson when he was Registar—General were Aglish and Church. I think this is one of the few cases where an English name has been translated into Irish (eaglais, pronounced aglish, is the Gaelic for a church). The name Church is English, from atte churche, that is dweller near the church, and has been established in Ulster since the seventeenth century-families of Church will be found in the hearth money rolls of several northern counties, Derry being their main location, while two tituladoes called Church appear in the “census”

of 1659 in the barony of Loughinsholin in that county. In the next century we begin to find them also in Munster, particularly in Co. .Cork and Co. Kerry, not in large numbers but always in prominent positions. However they were still large landowners in Co. Derry up to the time of the Land Act of 1903.

Matheson omits to state where the name Aglish occurred and I have never met an instance of it myself, except as a place name in Co. Waterford and Co. Tipperary.