Did you know that many of the first Irish immigrants to New York City spoke Irish Gaelic as a native language? The Irish began immigrating to New York City in the mid to late 19th century, which was largely caused by the potato famine in Ireland. The immigrants came in a series of successive waves, which lasted for many decades. Today the Irish community in NYC, which is one of the largest ethnic groups, has mostly lost it's connection to the Irish Gaelic language. When searching many of the arrival records of Irish immigrants of this early time period, you can see many Irish Gaelic names, which eventually had to be anglicized. It is not known when the Irish Gaelic speaking communities of New York City stopped speaking their mother tongue, but it's probably safe to assume that it had mostly died out completely by the time the 20th century arrived. Thanks for reading through this quick Irish Gaelic fact.
