3 38 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Illuinnciti $a.t,tcob&i]i, b&iiie&'o&ij, CoirmeAno.15, Sjor&l,, Ct-Min ttlic 

 a' J5eiTht u T ) ! ffloriAn&i j (^5^1* mo-fiAti ■o&obcA)." ' To which were added 

 later: — bji&n&ij, nioriboirirnj, til ^5 HeilX, 6 briot>a.in, buric&ij. 



To attempt to trace the genealogical origin of all these families would 

 here be too great 'a labour. I propose to deal briefly with instances in regard 

 to which the information lies to hand. 



TIa tTli-illig : bearers of the surname O fflAille. The ordinary English 

 version of this name is "O'Malley," but in Clare Island and not seldom on 

 the mainland, the usual version is "Melia" (rhyming with "dahlia"). 

 " Mealy " is probably a variant. " Melia " exemplifies a very general custom 

 in the anglicization of Irish names, the substitution of e for a. 2 The 111aiU,ij 

 alone form about one fourth of the population of Clare Island. Their 

 origin and history are well attested. 5 



Cl&nn Uu&c&il : the surname of this family is ftl&c Uuc-c&il. One 

 householder gave me his name as U^-oj 111 &c Uu.s.c&it. My chief authority 

 for the local family names and place-names called himself p&riit&ic O 

 Cu&c&il (as it sounded), but called the whole kindred Cl&rm Uuaxo.iI. 

 (This variation of lilac to 111 e-c, and thence to Oc, is not rare in Connacht. 

 A young man once asked me to explain why his surname was 6 Cui in Irish 

 and Mac Hugh in the English version. O Cui = lilac Aowa., and "Hugh" 

 is the accepted English equivalent of Aot>. Another young man told me 

 that his surname was O Cu&ricA.in in Irish and Durkan in English. O 

 Cua,tico.iri = 1T1&C "6ua.-pci.iTi. So bunoc, "an infant," must, I think, be 

 explained as bunrha.c.) There are four households of Cla.nn Uua.ca.il in 

 Clare Island ; and the local belief, I was informed, is that they are a 

 branch of the tlliollij, taking their name and descent from one Uuaxat, 

 O Trla.1l.le. The Annals of Ulster record the death of a Uuacal Ua 

 111a.iU.e in 1316. Under 1413, they record that another Uuacab t1«. tllaitle 

 took service in Ulster as a leader of mercenaries. After a year in that 

 occupation, he set out for home with his followers, who filled seven ships. A 

 storm arose, and they were carried away to the Scottish coast. Certain of 



1 " And many of them," a play on the word mirdn, " many." The variety of formulae here used 

 is not arbitrary, but represents established usage. A similar variety is found in early usage as 

 exemplified in the Genealogies and Annals. 



2 Another W. Connacht surname, 6 m'ttia, for which a literary form O TtlAOilroiA, of 

 questionable authenticity, is adopted, resembles " Melia," but has for its usual English equivalent 

 "Molloy." " Molloy." in this instance, is the borrowed English version, longer and more widely 

 in use, of the Meath surname 6 TtlAotmuAi'6. The transference of English equivalents from one 

 Irish surname to another often causes great difficulty in the tracing of family origins. 



3 Maille (probably = Mailne = Mdl< Maglos "prince" + -inios), from whom his descendants 

 took the surname Maille, cannot be placed earlier than c. 850, since the custom of forming 

 surnames like Ua Maille is not found before the beginning of the tenth century. His probable date 

 was 900-950, twelve generations before Domhnall Ruadh Ua Maille, t 1337. 



