Crowley
Ó Cruadhlaoich · descendant of the hard hero
Crowley is Ó Cruadhlaoich in Irish, said oh KROO-lee, and means descendant of the hard hero.
Cruadh, hard, and laoch, a hero. A Roscommon family driven south in the thirteenth century who settled so thoroughly in west Cork that nobody remembers they came from anywhere else.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Cruadhlaoich
- His daughter: Ní Chruadhlaoich
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Chruadhlaoich
- The family together: Uí Chruadhlaoich
Where it comes from
west Cork
Also spelt
Crowley, Crowly, Crolly
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.