| Apart from a few in Dublin, Toners are found almost exclusively
in Ulster, particularly in counties Derry and Armagh. A few in Ulster may be
English. The name is in Gaelic Ó Tomhrair, from a Norse personal name, Tomar.
However, the family is not of Norse origin, but was a sept of the Cenél Eoghain
based originally on the banks of the Foyle, near Lifford in Co. Donegal.
They later migrated to Derry and Armagh.
The name is found in England, where it was early imported from Ireland
(recorded as Tunere in 1242). It can also be from le Toner, 'dweller by
the farm or village', from Old English tun.
Variants of the name include Tonner, Tonra and Tonry.
GLOSSARY
| Clan |
From the Gaelic clann which means literally
'children'. |
| Mac- |
From the Gaelic mac, meaning 'son' |
| O' |
From the Gaelic Ó, meaning 'grandson',
'grandchild' or 'descendant'; Ní is the femine form of Ó, meaning 'daughter' or
'descendant' |
| Plantation (Ulster) |
The redistribution of escheated lands after the
defeat of the Ulster Gaelic lords and the 'Flight of the Earls' in 1607. Only
counties Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Armagh, Fermanagh and Cavan were actually
'planted', portions of land there being distributed to English and Scottish
families on their lands and for the building of bawns. |
| Sept |
A family group of shared ancestry living in the
same locality |
| Undertakers |
Powerful English or Scottish landowners who
undertook the plantation of British settlers on the lands they were granted. |
| Gaelic |
This word in Ireland has no relation to
Scotland. As a noun it is used to denote the Irish language, as an adjective
to denote native Irish as opposed to Norman or English origin. |
| Erenagh |
From the Irish Gaelic airchinneach, meaning
'hereditary steward of church lands'. A family would hold the ecclesiastical
office and the right to the church or monastery lands, the incumbent at any one
time being the erenagh. |
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