I grew up hearing many stories about the Teare name and its origin. However, once I began my research, I found that much of what I had heard was inconsistent with what I was reading. So I dowloaded e-books onto my Kindle that discussed Manx surnames and started my detective work!
The Teare name was born on the Isle of Man, but is of celtic origin (as are 65% of Manx surnames, another 35% being of Scandio-Celtic origin). There are two main categories of surnames on the Isle of Man: those derived from the personal name of an ancestor (typically originating from early Christian tradition), and those derived from trades and occupations. It is not very common that Manx names be derived from place origin.
It is contracted from Mac-an-t’Saoir, “the carpenter’s son”. One of the oldest recordings of this name is in the year 990 A.D. (Ciaran Mac-an-tsair). Now it has been said that:
“By Mac and O
You’ll always know
True Irishmen, they say;
But if they lack
Both O and Mac
No Irishman are they.”
This poem seems to sum up the history of the Teare name, which despite its celtic origins has become distinctly Manx. According to A. W. Moore, “The geographical separation of the Isle of Man...caused the Manx dialect to become, in course of time, materially differentiated from the Irish speech with which it was originally identical. From the same cause, many of the originally Irish surnames of the Island have undergone a degree of phonetic corruption that covers them with a disguise which can only be penetrated by a recourse to early documents. The prefix Mac has, in many cases, fallen away altogether; in other cases it is represented only by its final consonant” (ex: MacAllister-->Callister). There also wasn’t much movement even within the Island, let alone outside of it. The Teare name stayed rooted firmly in one small area until the 19th century.
Moore’s connection of the celtic surnames with Ireland surprised me. I had grown up hearing that the name “Teare” came from the Scottish surname “MacIntyre”, and that there was a tendency on the Isle of Man to drop the “Mac” from names. That’s true, in a sense, but it cannot be assumed that we are linked to the Scots. Even so, can we really claim to be Irish?
Maybe. The relationship between the Irish and the Scottish MacIntyres, which remains unclear, is still based on the idea of one being the “son of a carpenter”. According to Dr. Edward MacLysaght, the late 20th century authority on Irish genealogy, the MacIntyres who are of native Irish descent are originally Macateers: “Macateer (Mac an t’saor, saor, craftsman), [is] an Ulster name for which the Scottish MacIntyre, of similar derivation, is widely substituted.” He adds that “Ballymacateer is a place-name in Co. Armagh, which is its homeland.” (*Hm, doesn’t Ballymacateer sound an awful lot like Ballateare, in the Isle of Man?! More on that later.). Ulster and the former church town of Ballymacateer are both located in Northern Ireland, along the Lough (lake) Neag. This is significant: In R. L Thomson's Manx Personal Names and General Vocaulary, he shows that many of the early celtic surnames on the Isle have ties to that region in Northern Ireland. So while we have somewhat of a connection to the name MacIntyre, it does not seem that our name is derived from the Scottish clan.
I had heard another legend that my surname was derived from the Old Norse god of law, Tyr. In my research, I could not find any evidence to back up this supposed Viking connection to the Teare name. I did come across some interesting facts, however. Manx genealogist A. W. Moore states that the Teare name is much commoner in the north of the Island than the south, being very common in Jurby and Ballaugh, common in Andreas, Bride, and Lezayre. He also states that the Vikings were most prevalent in Jurby, Ballaugh, and Bride- just like the Teare name. He explains that, thanks to the low sandy coastline in that area, it was easiest for the Vikings to run their flat-bottomed ships on shore. Thus, names of Scandinavian origin are more common in that area, though they only constitute 35% of Manx surnames.
However, reference books place the name unanimously under the “Celtic” grouping, thanks mostly to their ability to trace its development (Mac-an-t-saor→ Macateer→ MacIntyre/MacTyre→ McTeare/McTerre/MacTere→ Teare/Tear/Tere). Interestingly enough, a Viking burial boat was discovered in Ballateare (literally “Teare farm”), south of Jurby. Maybe an old Teare neighbor!
So where does that leave us? Given how small the Isle of Man is, we probably have in us some traces of all the island’s settlers and invaders. As for the surname? Since last names were not very common until the late 15th or 16th centuries, it is hard to say for sure. We may have more in common with our Irish brothers than I’d thought! The English took over for good in 1405, and many surnames were established and anglicized at the time. Also, Irish immigration to the island at that time increased. Parish records become common in the 16th century, and there is a "Teare" recorded at Ballaugh in 1599. The rest is history, I guess!
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County Armagh in Northern Ireland |
WHERE TO GO:
Ballymacateer and Ulster, Northern Ireland: Click here for the google maps view.