Brosnan was born on 16 May 1953 at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth, the only child of May ("" Smith) and carpenter Thomas Brosnan. He has the same name as his grandfather, Pierce Brosnahan (Brosnan), who in turn was named from his parents' surnames: John Brosnahan and Margaret Pierce. The historical spelling was O'Brosnacháin. For 12 years, he lived in Navan, County Meath, and said in 1999 that he considers it to be his hometown. He attended St Anne's Primary School in Navan. His father abandoned the family when Brosnan was an infant. When he was four years old, his mother moved to London to work as a nurse. From that point on, he was largely brought up by his maternal grandparents, Philip and Kathleen Smith. After their deaths, he lived with an aunt and then an uncle, but was subsequently sent to live in a boarding house run by a woman named Eileen. He later said, "Childhood was fairly solitary. I never knew my father. He left when I was an infant. [...] To be Irish Catholic in the 1950s, and have a marriage which was not there, a father who was not there [...] the mother, the wife suffered greatly. My mother was very courageous. She took the bold steps to go away and be a nurse in England. Basically wanting a better life for her and myself. My mother came home once a year, twice a year."