# Is there a word for....

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/414871>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 8, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/414871 "2007-08-08T16:09:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/414871/1 "2007-08-08T16:09:50Z")

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Irish names that begin with “O’”, like O’Brien and O’Connor and so forth?

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**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for/414871/2 "2007-08-08T16:15:37Z")

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They used to be patronymics, though they aren’t any more, because they are based on the name oif a far more remote ancestor.