by Jim Young (guest)
12/15/2004, 5:29 AM
Not, strictly speaking, a Celtic name. It is a very common Irish surname indicating a Celtic origin. Walsh comes from WALH, the Old Germanic name for a foreigner, i.e., non-German speaker. The Anglo-Saxons gave this name to the Britons among whom they settled, and they are now the Welsh. Settlers in Ireland were called Walsh by the English and Breathnach by the Irish. The actor Kenneth Branagh has an English spelling of the Irish name for a Welshman for his surname (confused?).