placenames.ie
County

Roscommon

Ros Comáin

Roscommon’s townlands sit within a history of overlapping territories, abbey estates and routes connecting the Shannon with inland lakes.

Recorded locationRoscommon53.75564° N · 8.34747° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ieOpen in OpenStreetMap ↗

The name

ros(wooded) height; wood; promontory

These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.

An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.

Recorded forms

  • Ros Comáin · Irish · main form · validated name
  • Roscommon · English · main form

Place & story

A county beside several neighbours

Lewis’s 1837 opening places Roscommon between Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Galway and the counties to its east. His territorial history distinguishes O’Connor authority in central districts, MacDermot associations in the north and O’Kelly connections in the south. These are broad historical patterns rather than a map of every family’s origins. A shared surname and county can suggest a line of inquiry but cannot establish descent from one of the ruling houses. [2]

Boyle and its lake connection

The Boyle entry places the town on the river flowing between Lough Gara and Lough Key and describes development on both steep banks. Its abbey belonged to a wider Cistercian network and later became part of a different property history. This example brings water, road, church and estate together in one locality. The wider county cannot be reduced to the town of Roscommon, which had its own separate castle, religious and administrative story. [3]

Athlone across the Shannon

Lewis places Athlone on both sides of the Shannon, in Roscommon and Westmeath and in two provinces. A historical Athlone household may consequently require records from either bank. Town, barony and county references must be preserved rather than merged on the basis of a familiar name. For research elsewhere in Roscommon, the same principle applies: keep the townland, parish, institution and date before matching a document to a modern map or using a town’s market catchment as a residential boundary. [4]

Geographic information

Place type
County
County
Roscommon
Coordinates
53.75564, -8.34747
Mapped area
2,548.16 km²
Logainm ID
100027 ↗

People & family history

Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.

Explore this county

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Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Roscommon. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. County Roscommon — A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis · 1837
  3. Boyle — A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis · 1837
  4. Athlone — A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis · 1837
  5. Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.