The Hart Name

Primary county: Meath {c.strip()}{c.strip()}

History and Origins

The personal name Art — from which Hart ultimately derives — is one of the most ancient and prestigious in the Gaelic Irish tradition. Art Óenfer (Art the Lonely), legendary king of Ireland and son of Conn of the Hundred Battles, is one of the central figures of the Irish mythological king-cycles. His son Cormac mac Airt is the archetypal wise and just king of the tradition, and this lineage gave the name Art enormous prestige in early Irish nomenclature. The patronymic Ó hAirt — 'descendant of Art' — thus carried implicit connections to this mythological royal heritage.

The Meath Sept and the Leinster Connection

The Ó hAirt sept of County Meath were settled in the midland plain of Leinster, in the historic territory of Mide — the ancient 'middle province' of Ireland that formed the heartland of the High Kingship at Tara. Meath's rich agricultural land made it one of the most fought-over territories in Irish history: it was the site of the Battle of the Boyne (1690), the seat of the High Kings at Tara, and the region most thoroughly transformed by the Norman settlement. The Norman de la Harte family also settled in Meath, and some Hart families in Leinster may be of this Norman rather than Gaelic origin.

Ulster Branches

Separate Ó hAirt communities existed in Ulster, particularly in County Sligo on the Connacht-Ulster borderlands and in County Donegal. The Sligo and Donegal Harts may represent a distinct branch of the family or a separate sept that adopted the same patronymic independently. Ulster Hart families were affected by the Plantation of Ulster in 1610 and subsequent confiscations, and the name is found in plantation-era records across the province.

Famine and Emigration

Hart families from Meath, Sligo, and Donegal emigrated through the Famine period, heading primarily to the United States and Britain. Meath, as a more prosperous midlands county, suffered less severely than the western counties, but emigration was still significant. Sligo and Donegal were more severely affected and produced larger proportions of emigrants.

The Diaspora

The Hart diaspora is found across the United States, Britain, and Australia. American Harts of Irish origin arrived through the Famine emigration and before, settling in New York, Pennsylvania, and throughout the northeast. The name Hart is common in English as well as Irish — derived independently from the English word for a male deer — which means Irish-origin Harts require county-specific research to identify.

In public life, the Hart name has been carried by several notable figures including Gary Hart (born 1936), the American Democratic senator and presidential candidate who was a leading figure in American politics in the 1980s. In Irish life, the name appears in legal, ecclesiastical, and academic contexts across several generations of Irish-American families.

Notable Hart Families

• Art mac Cuinn (mythological) — Legendary High King of Ireland, father of Cormac mac Airt, whose name gave rise to the personal name Art — the root of Ó hAirt. One of the great figures of the Irish mythological king-cycle.
• Gary Hart (born 1936) — American Democratic senator for Colorado and twice presidential candidate. Leading figure in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party in the 1970s and 1980s.
• Corey Hart (born 1962) — Canadian singer-songwriter of Irish descent, best known for the 1984 hit Sunglasses at Night. His Irish ancestry connects to the Ulster Hart tradition.
• Henry Hart (1808–1888) — Irish-American judge and legal scholar of Meath descent. Circuit Court judge in New York State, representative of the Irish-American professional class.