Famous Irish person

Kylta

Its reckoned Bono is the most famous Irishman in the world. But who is your most famous Irish person. This can be a historical person it doesn't have to necessarily be a modern person

James Joyce.

Hamsterchops

Well about twenty years ago it was Pierse Brosnan (in his James Bond days), then more recently it was Conor McGregor, and nowadays I guess it's our very own Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, internationally recognised and respected.

Zebra3

About ten years ago I was at a border crossing into Turkmenistan.

The border guard didn't seem to speak any English as I handed him my passport.

He took my passport, looked at it with some bemusement, looked back at me and said "Ah, country of Robbie Keane!".

Take from that what you will.

Lucy8080

I'd say it's Arthur. Some folks around the world might not know who I mean,but mention his surname..they all know!

Your Face

James Joyce.

biko

Johnny Logan

matchthis

Colm meaney

Jonybgud

Johnny Maher, great bloke, gave up his seat for the widow McGrath at at the 1972 midnight mass, still talked about today.

Omackeral

Barack O'Bama

People with knowledge of bobby sands would pop.up in most suprising of places



Though most famous irish person alive now,is likely conor mcgregor

Tuco88

Arthur Guinness. You won't find Bonos name over some shack in Sri Lanka.

Quantum Erasure

the Duke of Wellington

Vestiapx

It's Conor McGregor which is a serious achievement considering how long it was Bono. I'm surprised that Geldof isn't in the discussion but I suppose things move on.

corner of hells

Quantum Erasure wrote: »

the Duke of Wellington

Yep , named after a pair of boots.

its_steve116

Walt Disney, his ancestors were from Co. Carlow.

The Tetrarch

Paddy.

Hamsterchops

its_steve116 wrote: »

Walt Disney, his ancestors were from Co. Carlow.

Oh please No, not the old ancestors thing.....
His Great Granny was from ....

Ket's keep it strictly Irish, born & bred.

GUINNESS (Arthur).

Lucy8080

The Tetrarch wrote: »

Paddy.

Hang on,are we talkin' about your Paddy or our Paddy? There could be fisticuffs if it's your Paddy.

Arghus

Conor McGregor.

Bono.

Roy Keane.

Dr Turk Turkelton

Zebra3 wrote: »

About ten years ago I was at a border crossing into Turkmenistan.

The border guard didn't seem to speak any English as I handed him my passport.

He took my passport, looked at it with some bemusement, looked back at me and said "Ah, country of Robbie Keane!".

Take from that what you will.

Perhaps you are forgetting but I once heard Robbie being interviewed over there and he said it was always his boyhood dream to play for Turkmenistan United.

Kylta

All men. Have we no famous women?

Homelander

Kylta wrote: »

All men. Have we no famous women?

Well, the OP asked who is the most famous Irish person. It's undoubtedly Conor McGregor at the moment.

Agent Coulson

Mr Jameson and his Sons.

ewc78

Kylta wrote: »

All men. Have we no famous women?

Katie Taylor is probably the most famous Irish woman?
Mary Robinson would have been once I suppose.

fonda

Deleted User wrote: »

People with knowledge of bobby sands would pop.up in most suprising of places

Slightly off-topic, but a friend visited Tehran in Iran a few years back, and as soon as he told local people he was Irish a lot of them knew Bobby Sands. They told him to visit the Bobby Sands takeaway and he sent me pictures whilst he was there. Bizarrely its painted all in orange and a bit ironic to name a burger joint after a hunger striker.

The Iranians also trolled the British by renaming the street where the embassy was located as Bobby Sands Street so that all post being delivered to the embassy would be addressed to Bobby Sands Street. In response the Brits moved the entrance to a side street to change the address. Iranians trolling before the net even existed.

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/9bzpya/bobby-sands-burgers-tehran-545

https://goo.gl/maps/Ex9FZcAKuwJrE6JF7

Badly Drunk Boy

Jonybgud wrote: »

Johnny Maher, great bloke, gave up his seat for the widow McGrath at at the 1972 midnight mass, still talked about today.

Yer man from The Smiths? Yeah, he's dacent.

Duckworth_Luas

Zebra3 wrote: »

About ten years ago I was at a border crossing into Turkmenistan.

The border guard didn't seem to speak any English as I handed him my passport.

He took my passport, looked at it with some bemusement, looked back at me and said "Ah, country of Robbie Keane!".

Take from that what you will.

RobMc59

Brian Boru

JustAThought

St Patrick, possibly.

partyguinness

I was in a hotel in Egypt about 15 years ago and the Egyptian bar man started some small talk. He got very animated about Ireland and was trying to talk to me about some famous Irish figure.

His English was poor but still better than my Arabic and I just could not figure out who he was on about. I gathered it was some politician/historical figure and reeled off all the names Padraig Pearse, Bobby Sands, Gerry Adams etc etc. Anyway we gave up and then about 10 minutes later he roped in his buddy who said it:-

"Robert Emmet"

Ok- I did not expect to be chatting about Robert Emmet in Egypt. Embarrassingly he probably knew more than me.

antodeco

What about Jesus?

Lived at home with his mammy until he was 32.
Went on a bender and disappeared for a few days.
Sounds Irish to me

partyguinness

antodeco wrote: »

What about Jesus?

Lived at home with his mammy until he was 32.
Went on a bender and disappeared for a few days.
Sounds Irish to me

...and his mother thinks he's God...yadda yadda yadda.

blade1

Linda Martin.
Was saying "Why me" long before Mario Balotelli.

RobbingBandit

Oscar Wilde

WB Yeats

Lundstram

From my own experiences.

Asia: Roy and Robbie Keane. A few mentions of John O'Shea too.

USA: Bono, Flately and Brosnan.

Europe: Roy Keane.

Coillte_Bhoy

Playing poker in San Sebastian one night and none of the other players had a word of English but they eventually got that i was Irish and one lad's face lit up, "Ah, Paul O'Connell", and thats what i was called for the night

Quantum Erasure

ewc78 wrote: »

Katie Taylor is probably the most famous Irish woman?
Mary Robinson would have been once I suppose.

Saoirse Ronan

Coillte_Bhoy

ewc78 wrote: »

Katie Taylor is probably the most famous Irish woman?
Mary Robinson would have been once I suppose.

Seriously? I doubt women's boxing features too high on anyone's radar

partyguinness

Quantum Erasure wrote: »

Saoirse Ronan

Oh no not in England.

I have read her described in a particular newspaper: -

"...New York born London based..." or "...New York born actress..."

The entire article made absolutely no mention whatsoever of Ireland or Irishness.

Fr Tod Umptious

Lundstram wrote: »

From my own experiences.

Asia: Roy and Robbie Keane. A few mentions of John O'Shea too.

USA: Bono, Flately and Brosnan.

Europe: Roy Keane.

I think this is very important.

It depends alot on the geography.

A US college educated person may know who James Joyce is but a Turkmen border guard may not.
Vice versa Robbie Keane as pointed out by another poster.

Also age comes into it.
U2 have been around 40 odd years, so it's likely a 70 year old would be as aware of Bono as a 20 year old.
But the likes of McGregor would be far more familiar to 20 year olds than 70 year olds.

the beer revolu

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

But the likes of McGregor would be far more familiar to 20 year olds than 70 year olds.

There's one Dublin ould fella who certainly knows who he is!

the beer revolu

Lucy8080 wrote: »

I'd say it's Arthur. Some folks around the world might not know who I mean,but mention his surname..they all know!

Murphy.
Not sure he's that well known outside of Ireland.

partyguinness

I am surprised to see Yeats and Joyce mentioned.

It seems to me that quite a lot of Irish people know little about either never mind the rest of the world.

ewc78

ewc78 wrote: »

Katie Taylor is probably the most famous Irish woman?
Mary Robinson would have been once I suppose.

Enya would probably be up there, even if we don't hear much from her these days.

RobMc59

JustAThought wrote: »

St Patrick, possibly.

British

the beer revolu

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Enya would probably be up there, even if we don't hear much from her these days.

And Sinead O Connor.
And Dolores O Riordan.

bottlebrush

Sinead o'connor

Rory McIlroy

Edgware

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Seriously? I doubt women's boxing features too high on anyone's radar

I cant remember Robinson winning too many medals although she deserves one for hard neck

Homelander

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

But the likes of McGregor would be far more familiar to 20 year olds than 70 year olds.

McGregor has completely transcended the sport he's in and is just a global name/brand. Bit like Ronaldo in Soccer, or the way Schumacher was in F1, Tiger Woods in golf, etc.

When people that become that big, they generally cross all borders, age brackets and interest groups. People generally know of them, even if they've no interest in the sport in which they compete.

There are very few 70 years old who don't know who Conor McGregor is, even if they've never watched him fight, or have no interest in ever doing so, because he's just such commanded such a global reach now.

No-one has to like him but he's easily the most famous Irish people on the planet at the moment, even if the height of his fame stems from infamy rather than achievements.

People tend to often get irritated when McGregor is mentioned, as if his perceived lack of worthiness in having achieved that fame renders it invalid, but it doesn't.

Like really, making claims like Robbie Keane being the most famous Irish man in the world are plain absurd.

Edgware

Homelander wrote: »

McGregor has completely transcended the sport he's in and is just a global name/brand. Bit like Ronaldo in Soccer, or the way Schumacher was in F1, Tiger Woods in golf, etc.

When people that become that big, they generally cross all borders, age brackets and interest groups. People generally know of them, even if they've no interest in the sport in which they compete.

There are very few 70 years old who don't know who Conor McGregor is, even if they've never watched him fight, or have no interest in ever doing so, because he's just such commanded such a global reach now.

No-one has to like him but he's easily the most famous Irish people on the planet at the moment, even if the height of his fame stems from infamy rather than achievements.

People tend to often get irritated when McGregor is mentioned, as if his perceived lack of worthiness in having achieved that fame renders it invalid, but it doesn't.

Like really, making claims like Robbie Keane being the most famous Irish man in the world are plain absurd.

McGregor is yesterdays man and will be remembered,if at all, as "that gob****e on the telly"