Healy
Ó hÉalaithe · descendant of Éalaitheach
Healy is Ó hÉalaithe in Irish, said oh HAY-la-ha, and means descendant of Éalaitheach.
Éalaitheach is read as ingenious or as claimant. A separate Ó hÉilidhe family in Sligo also became Healy, which doubles the name’s range.
How it changes
- A man: Ó hÉalaithe
- His daughter: Ní Éalaithe
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Éalaithe
- The family together: Uí Éalaithe
Where it comes from
Cork
Also spelt
Healy, O’Healy, Haly, Healey
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.