Here are some random facts for you.

1.  There are many Irish Americans in Massachusetts, but the most Irish state is actually New Hampshire, at least as far as percentages go.  20.2% of the people in New Hampshire have Irish ancestry.  Massachusetts is second at 20%.  Perhaps not surprisingly, Hawaii is dead last, at just 4.3%.

2.  Among large cities, Boston has the highest percentage of people with Irish ancestry, at 22.8%.  Pittsburgh is second, followed by Philadelphia.  One of the highest concentrations overall is in the town of Scituate, Massachusetts.  There’s only 19,000 people there, but 61.5% are Irish.

3.  There are 10 U.S. cities named Dublin.  Most are in the Eastern U.S., but there’s also a Dublin, California and a Dublin, Texas.   The California city is by far the largest Dublin in the U.S., with more than 70,000 people.  It’s in the Bay Area, between Oakland and San Jose.

4.  There’s a reason for the shamrocks.  According to Irish legend, St. Patrick used the three-leafed plant, not to be confused with the four-leaf clover, as a metaphor for the holy trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.

5.  St. Patrick’s Day could have been Saint Maewyn’s Day.  Legend has it St. Patrick wasn’t originally called Patrick.  His birth name was Maewyn Succat, but he changed it to Patricius after becoming a priest.

And there’s no indication that he was EVER called “Paddy,” even by his drinking buddies.  Maybe they nicknamed him “Pat”, “P-Dawg”, “P-Trick”, “The Patman”, “Patterina”, or “St. Dreamy”.)  (???)

 

(Zippia / Wikipedia / Wikipedia / Irish Indeed /Mental Floss)