Show ContentsBleach History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

There art two possible origins of the Irish surname Bleach. The first is that it originated from the Gaelic "O Blathmhaic," which translates as "descendant of Blathmhac," a personal name for the Gaelic "blath" meaning "flower", "blossom", "fame", "prosperity." The second was that the name could have been derived from the Old English word "blaec" meaning "dark" or "swarthy."

Early Origins of the Bleach family

The surname Bleach was first found in Connacht (Irish: Connachta, (land of the) descendants of Conn), where the Blake family were one of the Tribes of Galway, descending from Richard Caddell (le Blac), sheriff of Connacht in 1303, who came to Ireland with Prince John in 1185, and used both the surnames Caddell and Blake. 1

The name Caddell is Welsh, and means "warlike." It was not replaced completely by Blake until the 17th century, and for three hundred years, people with these surnames were referred to in municipal records by both names.

"The Blakes of Ireland descend from Richard Blake, who accompanied Prince John to that country in 1185, and settled in co. Galway." 2 Richard Caddle was sheriff of Connaught in 1306 A.D. and was a tenant of Falway under Richard de Burgo (Burke), the Red Earl of Ulster.

Early History of the Bleach family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bleach research. Another 97 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1611, 1708, 1738, 1745, 1774, 1780, 1797, 1818 and 1849 are included under the topic Early Bleach History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bleach Spelling Variations

Individual scribes in the Ireland during the Middle Ages would often record a person's name various ways. How the name was recorded depended on what that particular scribe believed the proper spelling for the name pronounced to him was. Spelling variations revealed in the search for the origin of the Bleach family name include Blake, Caddell, Caddle and others.

Early Notables of the Bleach family

Notable amongst the family name at this time was Sir Francis Blake (1708-1780), 1st Baronet, mathematician, descended from the house of Menlough, co. Galway. His father, Robert Blake, by his marriage with Sarah, third daughter of his kinsman, Sir Francis Blake, knight, of Ford Castle, Northumberland, became possessed of the Twisell estate, in the county of Durham...
Another 56 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bleach Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Bleach migration to the United States +

In the late 18th century, Irish families began emigrating to North America in the search of a plot of land to call their own. This pattern of emigration grew steadily until the 1840s when the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s cause thousands of Irish to flee the death and disease that accompanied the disaster. Those that made it alive to the shores of the United States and British North America (later to become Canada) were, however, instrumental in the development of those two powerful nations. Many of these Irish immigrants proudly bore the name of Bleach:

Bleach Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Ann Bleach, who landed in Virginia in 1663 3

HMS Hood
  • Mr. Arthur B Bleach (b. 1903), English Able Seaman serving for the Royal Navy from Woolston, Hampshire, England, who sailed into battle and died in the HMS Hood sinking 4


  1. MacLysaght, Edward, Supplement to Irish Families. Baltimore: Genealogical Book Company, 1964. Print.
  2. Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
  3. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  4. H.M.S. Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood: Crew Information - H.M.S. Hood Rolls of Honour, Men Lost in the Sinking of H.M.S. Hood, 24th May 1941. (Retrieved 2016, July 15) . Retrieved from http://www.hmshood.com/crew/memorial/roh_24may41.htm


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