Did you know that when Irish immigrants first arrived in the United States around the 17th century, that many of these people only spoke Irish Gaelic? Back around the 17th and 18th centuries, there were still huge percentages of the Irish population that didn't speak a word of English. When they arrived in the US as immigrants, they began to forge huge Irish population enclaves that were mostly driven by the Irish language. Centuries later, you can still to this day find a handful of Irish Americans that still speak a little Irish Gaelic, despite having never been to Ireland itself. The language was passed down through many generations of Irish immigrants, who hoped to keep some of their homeland alive in their descendants. One place in the US where Irish Gaelic was extremely strong during earlier centuries, was in the state of Pennsylvania. If you dig through some of the old city records within the state, you can still find traces of Gaelic names.
