Reid, with its variants Reed and Read(e), is now one of the 100 most common surnames in Ireland. In form it is English, and can derive from a nickname for someone who is red-haired or ruddy (from the Old English read), from a name for someone who lived in a clearing in a wood (Old English ried), or from the various places in England called Read or similar. No doubt many bearing the name in Ireland are of English stock. In addition, a number of Scots Gaelic surnames - MacRory, Ruaidh ("red"), and MacInroy - were frequently anglicised Reid, and many Reids in Ulster especially are descended from Scottish settlers. However, there were also two Gaelic families, the O Maoildeirg ("Mulderrig" - "red chieftain") of Mayo and Antrim, and the O Maoilbhrighde ("Mulreedy" - "devotee of St. Brigid") of Co. Roscommon whose surnames have often been anglicised Reid, by semi-translation and abbreviation respectively. Nano Reid (1905-1981) was one of the best known Irish painters of her generation, celebrated for her skilful evocation of the landscape of her native Co. Louth.