An Irishman named Henry, ca. 1870

[aghadowey]

Henry is also a common Irish surname and it's possible that it can be used as a first or middle name.

[Rody Lee]

I agree Aghadowey but its all relative.

Again, based on Dublin 1911 (it's currently the only easily searchable database I have thats reasonablt representative of the population at a particular point in time)

The frequency for male names based on just a few samples:

James: 20956
Patrick: 18751
Joseph: 12582
Henry: 4861
Oliver: 79
Adolf: 3

[Rody Lee]

Regarding the surname (both male and female):

Byrne: 10227
Murphy: 6163
Carroll: 2361
Henry:360

[aghadowey]

Interesting but suspet that the surname results will vary according to the area in Ireland. However, at this point it's not even certain that the Henry Carroll was born in Ireland.

[tucson mike]

It seems genealogists are rather like bloodhounds. If you give them a scent, they'll find the person for you. But there's not much point in talking to them about anything else.

[PrueM]

...But there's not much point in talking to them about anything else.

Hi Mike,
Sorry, but I can't let you get away with that comment - Rody Lee has come up with some good statistical information for you about the names Henry and Carroll, and aghadowey has found out a lot of specifics about your particular family prior to 1900.

Your initial message did not make it particularly clear what sort of information you were after, but following clarification by you, both Rody Lee and aghadowey have given you the information you asked for.

What's the problem? 

Prue