Boyle
Ó Baoill · descendant of Baoll
Boyle is Ó Baoill in Irish, said oh BWEEL, and means descendant of Baoll.
One of the three great families of the Donegal coast with the O’Donnells and the O’Dohertys. The Earls of Cork, the other Boyles, are English settlers and no relation.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Baoill
- His daughter: Ní Bhaoill
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Bhaoill
- The family together: Uí Bhaoill
Where it comes from
Donegal
Also spelt
Boyle, O’Boyle, Boyl
A name, not a pedigree
This is where the name came from, which is not the same as where you came from. Names were translated, anglicised, taken on by tenants and neighbours, and carried in by settlers who were no relation to the family that started them. To follow your own line, the 1901 and 1911 censuses are free and searchable, and give the county each person was born in.