Elaine O'Beirne-Ranelagh (6 July 1914 – 5 April 1996) was an American writer and folklorist, who also published under the pseudonym Anne O'Neill Barna.
Towards the end of World War II she met James O'Beirne at Columbia University Library, meeting to record his repertoire of Irish songs.
Following a period of internment, he had traveled to the United States in 1923 to complete the engineering degree he had started at University College Cork.
The changing of their name from O'Beirne to O'Beirne-Ranelagh is often ascribed to her, but it was inspired by James' interest in the Irish literary revival and the "Celtic twilight".
The book chronicled her move from New York city to rural County Kildare, where she lived with no electricity and running water.
[2][3] O'Beirne-Ranelagh continued to collect ballads and folklore in Ireland, made some broadcasts for Radio Éireann, and served on the Irish Fulbright commission.
By the late 1950s her husband's farming and business ventures were failing, and in 1959 she moved to Cambridge with her children to take up a position as educational director for the University of Maryland.