placenamesRahoon
Rathún
A memorial at the Bodkin family vault connects Rahoon Cemetery with Nora Barnacle and James Joyce.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Rathún · Irish · main form
- Rahoon · English · main form
Place & story
Michael Bodkin and Michael Furey
Michael “Sonny” Bodkin, an earlier admirer of Nora Barnacle, died from tuberculosis at twenty and was buried in the Bodkin family vault. Joyce drew partly on him for Michael Furey in The Dead. Furey is a fictional character, distinct from the man commemorated here. [2]
The 2024 plaque
On 13 January 2024, Michael D. Higgins unveiled a Galway City Council plaque at the vault. The ceremony marked the cemetery’s literary connection on the anniversary of Joyce’s death, in the year marking 110 years since Dubliners was published. [2]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Rahoon. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- President Higgins unveils plaque commemorating connection of Rahoon Cemetery to James Joyce’s The Dead, 13 January 2024 · Office of the President of Ireland
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2008-04-11. How this page was prepared.