The most important of the original O'Tierney septs was that of Co. Mayo, where their chiefs were lords of Carra. The name is now very scattered, being found in every county of Munster and Connacht, while it is rare in Ulster, outside Donegal. In Mayo, Tierney and Tiernan have been used as synonyms and cases of this are also reported from Co. Clare. Both O'Tierney (O Tighearnaigh) and O'Tiernan (O Tighearnain) are derived from the Irish word tighearna, lord. Many examples of the remarkable family pride of the O'Tiernans of Co. Mayo are recorded. Tierney is much more numerous than Tiernan: 78 births were recorded for the former compared with 26 for the latter in the last year for which statistics are available. While Tierneys cannot be assigned definitely to a particular area in the way most Gaelic families can be placed, it may be said that the name is chiefly associated with the Counties Galway, Limerick and Tipperary. They were undoubtedly firmly established as a territorial family, if not an indigenous sept, in Upper Ormond, for in the Ormond Deeds Fearnan O'Tyernie (I.e O'Tierney's country) is several times mentioned. As early as 1273 there was a Florence O'Tierney, Bishop of Kilfenora, and in 1372 Cornelius O'Tierney became Bishop of Kerry. An O'Tierney monument in St. Nicholas Church, Galway, is dated 1580. The only Tierney in the 1691 attainders was of Galway. The arms illustrated in Plate XXVII were confirmed in 1748 to a Co. Limerick family of Tierney stated in the patent to have had "long user thereof". the best known Tierney was George Tierney (1761-1845), and Edward Tierney (1780-1856). The sons of a small farmer in Co. Limerick, both attained astonishing success in their respective careers: Sir Matthew, beginning as an apothecary's apprentice at Rathkeale, rose to be one of the leading doctors in England and Physician in Ordinary to the King; Sir Edward, who inherited his brother's baronetcy by special patent, remained in Ireland, where he not only attained the lucrative appointment of Crown Solicitor of Ulster but also acquired under the will of Lord Egmont, whose agent he was, the extensive Egmont estates in Co. Cork. The extraordinary finale of this story, which is full of dramatic incidents and reads more like romantic fiction than fact, was that some years after Sir Edward's death the will in his favour was challenged, and eventually the estates reverted to the Egmont family. Father Richard Henry Tierney, S.J. (1870-1928), editor of America, belonged to a Co. Tipperary family; Dr. Michael Tierney, President of University College, Dublin came from Co. Galway. The famous annalist Tighearnach was not an O'Tierney, but the race of the O'Breens