Obviously O'Brien is Irish, but is it ever clear which city/county/region in Ireland he comes from?
-
9He's Irish? Why didn't anyone tell me?– ValorumSep 18, 2021 at 6:51
-
2Then again, other people have also failed to notice minor character traits– ValorumSep 18, 2021 at 6:58
-
TNG & DS9 are centuries after owning automobiles became very commoon n Earth, and Ireland is a relatively small region. Most modern Americans move every few years. So why do you think that O'Brien should be form a place in Ireland instead of from many different places in and out of Ireland and on and off Earth he has lived in.– M. A. GoldingSep 18, 2021 at 18:33
-
While it seems that O'Brien is ethnically Irish, it's not obvious that he was born there. Hikaru Sulu was played as obviously ethnically Japanese in TOS but he was actually born in California, so some might describe him as Japanese-American or Asian-American rather than Japanese per se. Of course, there's a very big Japanese-American community in California (and also Hawaii) today, so it makes sense that there might still be a viable ethnic community there in the 23rd century to pass along the culture.– Robert ColumbiaSep 19, 2021 at 12:51
3 Answers
O'Brien's place of birth is Killarney, Ireland, Earth.
This is confirmed in a couple of places.
Per The Star Trek Book: Strange New Worlds Boldly Explained:
NAME: Miles Edward O’Brien
SPECIES: Human
BORN: 2328, Killarney, Ireland, Earth
FATHER: Michael O’Brien
STARFLEET DIVISION: Operations
and Startrek.com:
PERSONNEL FILE: O'Brien, Miles Edward
Rank: Chief petty officer, senior chief specialist
Full Name: Miles Edward O'Brien
Year of birth: September, 2328
Place of birth: Killarney, Ireland, Earth
Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Michael O'Brien (mother died 2368; father remarried 2369)
Interestingly, this location was part of the original script for DS9: Homefront, but changed to Dublin for unknown reasons, presumably because most Americans would be more familiar with Dublin or simply to reflect Colm Meaney's accent:
O'BRIEN: Look, Odo... Do me a favor? If you get a chance, drop by and visit my folks in Killarney.
As noted in another answer, Miles has ties to Dublin and that's where his parents currently live. Various of the EU novels mention that he grew up there. For example:
Keiko knew there was little chance of Molly falling over, as her father was holding the back of the antique bicycle that she was struggling to learn to ride. She even kidded him that everyone must have ridden bicycles when he was a little boy growing up on Earth, but he assured her that he wasn’t that old. “I learned a lot younger than you when I was a little boy in Dublin,” he said. “My brothers taught me. There’s no better way to learn balance.”
As far I can tell, no canon episode or film has ever specified which part of Ireland O'Brien was born in, or grew up in.
His personnel file on StarTrek.com states that he was born in Killarney, Ireland.
However, his personnel file in the Star Trek: Starship Creator game states that he was born in Dublin, Ireland.
It has been established in canon that his parents live in Dublin (DS9: "Homefront").
ODO: Well, I take it the Battle of Britain has been won yet again.
BASHIR: There's a Spitfire with your name on it waiting in the hangar. When you get back from Earth, you can take Clive's place in the squadron.
ODO: Somehow I doubt it.
O'BRIEN: Look, Odo, do me a favour. If you get a chance, stop by and visit my folks in Dublin. Just make sure they're okay, you know?
ODO: I'll try to find the time.
O'BRIEN: Good. I'll let them know you might drop by.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - S04E11 - "Homefront"
And the Star Trek Encyclopedia states that his family resides in Dublin, possibly implying that he has other relatives there.
O'Brien's family resided in Dublin, Ireland, on Earth ("Homefront" [DS9]). His ancestors included noted 20th-century union leader, Sean Aloysius O'Brien and 11th-century Irish King Brian Boru. ("Bar Association" [DS9]).
Star Trek Encyclopedia
-
3An interesting find, but not one that confirms his birthplace, only where his parents are living.– ValorumSep 18, 2021 at 7:52
-
3The question didn't strictly ask where he was born, it asked where he's from. And if you asked him, he might say he's from Dublin, if that's where he grew up, and where he last lived when he resided on Earth. He does have a Dublin accent, as others have noted. Sep 18, 2021 at 7:58
-
2Your nitpick is noted, hence why you got a comment and not a downvote. It still doesn't confirm that he's ever lived there though. My parents live about three hundred miles from where I'm 'from'– ValorumSep 18, 2021 at 8:00
-
It doesn't confirm he ever lived in Dublin, but it's the only clue as to which specific part of Ireland he might have lived in that is given within an actual episode or film. Sep 18, 2021 at 8:03
-
Killarney in County Kerry
I found numerous sources claiming this, including the Spanish Memory Alpha wiki and Wikipedia, which cites it to Appendix B of the book Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future (1996).
There's even a petition to honour him by having a plaque put up in the real town of Killarney. It was not successful; I guess there isn't a huge density of Star Trek fans in County Kerry.
It should also be noted that he speaks with a Dublin accent in the show, following the actor Colm Meaney who is from Dublin. Some fans fear that this means Dublin has expanded to cover almost the whole island of Ireland by the 24th century, but perhaps a more likely explanation is that Miles O'Brien was born in Killarney and grew up in Dublin.
-
4
-
-
1That Wikipedia citation (ST: Chronology) appears to be confirming the date of his birth, not his birthplace.– ValorumSep 18, 2021 at 9:04