The O'Meara surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 4,801 people carried this name — #6,983 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 61,300 people counted. That is up 3% from 4,667 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the O'Meara surname
Anglicized form of Irish Ó Meadhra (“descendant of Meadhair”), a byname from meadhair, variant of meidhir (“mirth, merriment”).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «O'Meara» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890
Ireland registered 31 births for the O’Meara name in 1890.
Most were registered in Munster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 1,400 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. 11 of them were indexed under other spellings of the name.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born, 1890
Registrar-General for Ireland, «Special Report on Surnames in Ireland» (R. E. Matheson, 1894), births index of 1890 — public domain.
In print
O'Meara in American newspapers,
1899–1900.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 29,992 pages in all carry the name.
In print
O'Meara in Australian newspapers,
1820s–1990s.
24,899 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss O'Meara. The most, 3,807, date from the 1910s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in Victoria, at 2.0 times its expected share.
Articles, by state
Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss O'Meara.
Who carried it
People named O'Meara,
with a public archive behind them.
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Barry Edward O'Meara 1786–1836 · surgeon -
Andrew P. O'Meara 1907–2005 · military personnel -
Eleanor O'Meara 1910–2000 · figure skater -
Carroll Timothy O'Meara 1943–2007 · film editor
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Dermod O'Meara 1614–1642 · physician
Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0.
In the public record
People named O'Meara,
in the records of 4 countries.
Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.
United States479 records
- U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 182
- New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 143
- U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 62
- New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 58
- Irish Famine arrivals at New York, 1846–1851 19
- U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 10
- U.S. service members who died in the Korean War 2
- Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 1
- Sacramento County historic burials 1
- U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 1
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Example: U.S. war memorial War record Walter J. OMearaBorn 1928; from Kleberg County, Texas. U.S. Army, light weapons infantry leader; killed in action 1952 in North Korea.
U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) -
Example: passenger manifest, 1903 Passenger record Honora OMearaArrived at New York in 1848 aboard the Montezuma from Liverpool, aged 29; laborer. From Great Britain.
U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) -
Example: U.S. registration card, 1942 Military record Francis OMearaBorn 1911 in Iowa. Enlisted 1945 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; aircraft worker from Ida County.
U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain)
Showing 3 of 479 records for O'Meara in the United States.
Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain).
Australia624 records
- Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 311
- Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 235
- Tasmanian Names Index 78
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Example: probate petition, 1848 Probate record Patrick OMearaDied 1892 in New Norfolk, Tasmania, aged 68. Will registered in Tasmania in 1892.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: passenger manifest, 1903 Passenger record Sarah OMearaArrived in Victoria in 1870 as an assisted immigrant aboard the Western Empire, aged 17.
Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: civil register, 1880 Death record Bridget OMearaDied 1886 in Launceston, Tasmania, aged 74.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 3 of 624 records for O'Meara in Australia.
Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).
Canada1 record
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Example: Canadian cemetery Burial record Mary OMearaBuried in 1971 at Fairview Cemetery, Niagara Falls, Ontario.
City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls.
Counts: City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).
United Kingdom1 record
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Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919 War record J. OMearaRoyal Guernsey Light Infantry. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1918.
National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)
Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to O'Meara.
- Oltz 237 · U.S. census
- Olvera 27,551 · U.S. census
- O'Malley 17,588 · U.S. census
- Omar 7,660 · U.S. census
- O'Mara 4,792 · U.S. census
- Omari 595 · U.S. census
- Omer 2,063 · U.S. census
- Oms 164 · U.S. census
- Ona 584 · U.S. census
- Oneal 47,979 · U.S. census
- O'Neil 28,949 · U.S. census
- O'Neill 50,028 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where O'Meara is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.