Quote Originally Posted by O'Callaghan View Post
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When I plugged in various other Irish names, I found a broadly similar pattern. It seems the largest numbers of Irish emigrated "Down Under", and that after that more went to the UK than the US, which defies conventional wisdom I think, but conventional wisdom is not always correct. To read some sources you would think that most Irish who emigrated went to the US, but it obviously isn't so. Still, there's no doubt that the USA gave the world St. Patrick's Day parades, LOL!

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I have read that as much as 25% of Americans claim to be of Irish descent, but of course the reality is that the figure is much smaller than that. It seems to be thought of as a colorful and interesting ethnic group.