Most of our Irish ancestors believed that the dropping of the O and the Mac and other "adjustments" to their surnames, were "improvements" in so far as they hoped it might improve their miserable lot, and the surname Sommerville was betimes seen as an "improvement" of Summerfield, according to Basil Cottle in his Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Som(m)erville means "place at the Somme". A Walter de Somerville came to England with William the Conqueror, and persons so named subsequently came to Ireland.
Early evidence locates Richard (de) Sumervil (Somervill) among the jurors in two cases heard at Limerick in 1311. A dispute between three daughters of Christopher de Birmingham and their respective husbands in 1341 concerned the inheritance of Multon (Co Lincoln) and property in Ireland. Among the Irish properties were the manors of Anedis, Leedoun, Kylker, and Narlec. Philip de Somerville was one of the free tenants for the fee of Neynan (a fieldname) in the manor of Narlec. Narlac(h) is now rendered Aherlow, the initial N being the remnant of An of An Eatharalch.
Taylor & Skinner's 1778 Maps of the Roads of Ireland shows Somervill, Bart, at Somervill south-west of Duleek, Co Meath; and Somerville, esq., at Legacurry (Log an Choire, "the hollow of the corrie"), Co Monaghan. The 1814 Directory has Sir M. Somerville, Bt, MP, at Somerville, Navan, Co Meath, with other Somerville residences at Ross, Mountnugent, Co Cavan, and at Ardmanagh, Co Cork. This surname is well known in Co Cork because of Edith Somerville (1858-1949), who with her second cousin Violet Martin co-authored The Real Charlotte, Some Experiences of an Irish RM, and a number of other books.
However, the name is mainly found in the province of Ulster (110 telephone entries north of the Border, with 45 to its south, with a smaller number of Sommervilles and Summervilles). However, Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876) lists but a single Somerville holding in Ulster, the 72 acres in Tullyrain, Co Fermanagh. James at Ross House, Mountnugent, Co Cavan, had 346 Co Meath acres, 439 Co Leitrim acres, and 539 in Co Roscommon. The five holdings in Co Cork ranged from the 450 acres at Drishane to the 103 acres at Union Hall in the parish of Myross.
Tradition has it that in 1723 Dean Swift visited Rev Philip Somerville while at Myross. This parish formed part of Tuath Ui Chonneid, according to Donnchadh O Corrain in his essay Corcu Loigde: Land and Families in Cork History & Society. O Conneid was the taoiseach (chief) of this tuath, and the listed oglach (attendant, servant, vassal) there were O Muimnich, O Drochruaimig, O Fuailchin, Ui Duib Chonna and Ui Chaingni. The oclach possessed smaller land-portions than the taoiseach. "The oclach, it would appear, was a gentleman-farmer; better bred than appointed". O Caingne (caingean, `a law case; cause, dispute, covenant; a matter; a charge; a tribute') was anglicised Cagney.
Though the Cagneys are fairly scarce in most documents, nevertheless their combined 1876 holdings in counties Cork and Limerick were 2,359 acres (as against the 3,005 of the Somervilles). There are 95 telephone entries, with but a single one north of the Border. Forty-seven of these are in the 06 area (counties Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Clare).
It was not uncommon in 12th and 13th century documents that O Neill, O Maoilriain, O Cinneide were rendered Oneel, Omulryan, and Okennedy, so we wonder if Ocaygny in The Calender of Justiciary Rolls (1308-1314) is O Caingne. Robert Ocaygny was charged in Meath in 1311 with stealing 18 sheep from le Waleys of Grilly and Nicholas Okenedy, and that he procured Gillekegh Orailly to engage in a bit of arson. James Cagney, the Hollywood film star, was born in 1899 in New York of Irish-born parents. He had visited Ireland a number of times, during which he inquired about the origin of his surname, and was informed that it was O Caigne.
Somervillestown is in the Co Tyrone parish of Urney.