O'Kelly / Kelly
High Kings of Ireland

Regional Variations In the Name

KELLY, O'KELLY: (Irish Gaelic: O Ceallaigh) O'KELLY is a genuine 'O'
surname which belongs to the oldest class of native Irish surnames.
It means 'Descendent of Ceallach' (war or contention), and is the
name of several distinct and illustrious families in various parts
of Ireland. O'KELLY was chief of the great Ui Maine clan and ruled
over an extensive territory in the counties of Galway and Roscommon.

Mac Ceallaigh-Kelly Son of Ceallach. The name of (1) a Co. Galway
family from the same stock as the O'Maddens. It is said that this
family lived around Headford and were ollamhs in history to the
O'Flaherties ; and (2) of a Co. Leitrim family . There are , no
doubt, several other families of the name in Ireland but the cannot
now be distinguished from the O'Kellys. Daniel MacKelly , Archbishop
of Cashel from 1238 to 1253, was the first Dominican to become an
Irish Bishop. Mac Ceallaigh is also the gaelic name of the Kellys in
the Isle of Man
O Caollaidhe, O Caollaighe -Kealy , Keely (Kelly) , Quaely , Queely
etc. "Descendant of Caollaighe" ( an ancient Irish personal
name);the name of (1.) a Kilkenny family who were ancient chiefs of
Ui Bearchon, in the present Barony of Ida; (2) a Leix famliy who
were chiefs of Crioch O mBuidhe, in the present Barony of
Ballyadams; and (3) of a Tipperary family , anciently chiefs of
Aolmhagh. The name appears to have also been in Ulster. It is almost
everywhere Anglicised now to Kelly , for which it is the ordinary
Irish in West Limerick and Kerry. In Waterford it has been
Anglicised as Queally.

Mac Giolla Ceallaigh - Mac Kilelly, Gilkelly, Kilkelly, Killkelly,
Kelly; is the form in some parts of Galway and is a genuine Irish
personal name meaning 'Son of Giolla Ceallaigh'(Giolla Ceallaigh was
servant to St Ceallach); the name of a family of the Ui Fiachrach
Aidhne in Medievil Galway who are of the same stock as the O'Clearys
and derive their descent from 'Guaire the Hospitable', King of
Connaught in the 7th Century.Their chief resided at the Castle of
Cloghballymore in the Parish of Killeenavarra. A branch of the
family settled in Mayo in the northwest of Ireland soon after the
Anglo-Norman Invasion.

O Cadhla is the form of the name in Connaught and Munster and is a
genuine ancient native 'O' surname meaning
'beautiful/comely/graceful', the name of the family who were
formerly chiefs of Connemara in the West of Ireland and of a Thomond
family who were chiefs of Tuath Luimnigh in the neighbourhood of the
City of Limerick.

Mac Caochlaoich,- Kehelly, Kehilly, Coakley, Keily, Kelly- the form
in parts of Cork, is an occupational name translated 'son of  blind
hero' but probably originally, Mac Caochfhile 'son of blind poet';
an old West Cork surname.

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