The name Twomey, usually without the prefix O, is now, as always, predominantly associated with Co. Cork. When found elsewhere it is often spelt Toomey. In the census of 1659 O'Twomy appears as the second most numerous surname in the barony of Barretts, Co. Cork, Murphy being then the commonest there. The most distinguished man of the name, however, Sean O'Tuama (1706-1775), was born and lived all his life at Croom, in the neighbouring county of Limerick; there he and his wife kept a publichouse which was the meeting place of the Maigue Gaelic poets, he himself - "O'Twomey the gay" - being the most distinguished of them.