Hi, what does our surname mean and where does it come from ?
Well what does it mean is not know yet but we are related to the various forms of  our name, Cosgriff ,Cosgrove, Cosgrave and so on. We all come from Southern  Ireland around the Cork district and were probably peat farmers. As we all know  our history, the Irish had many plagues and famines. During the potatoes plague  we all split up, some going to the USA, England and Australia

So what is with the various forms of our surname? Well I have some ideas on  this, one idea is that we were part of a clan and depending were in the area  you  came from was the way you spelt your name (think of Mc surnames in  Scotland)

The other idea is that when we started to go to our various countries we could  not read or write (true to this day ) therefore the way our names were recorded  were spelt by the person doing the records hence the variations of our name.  We have all told someone our name and they have spelt it wrong!

The research was done by myself Richard James Cosgrif for a birthday present  for my dad Peter Leonard Cosgrif. Which seemed a good idea at the time but  turned into a massive and never ending present. Which started in  1998.

Virtually all the information has been gathered from the Internet .Ever tried typing  the Cosgrif name into a search engine like google? One problem I have faced is  as discussed earlier that the spelling of the name is down to who enters it thus  many dead ends. Were I thought I had found another Cosgrif only to find out on  making contact with these people they were Cosgriff or a Cosgrove.

How can you help? Well if you are not on this site or you have more information  which you would like to go on your page then please feel free to contact me  through the contact page.

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