Mullan
Ó Maoláin · descendant of Maolán
Mullan is Ó Maoláin in Irish, said oh MWAY-lawn, and means descendant of Maolán.
Maol means bald, or tonsured: a monk’s haircut. A good few Irish names start with it, and they are usually about devotion rather than hair.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Maoláin
- His daughter: Ní Mhaoláin
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Mhaoláin
- The family together: Uí Mhaoláin
Where it comes from
Derry and Donegal
Also spelt
Mullan, Mullen, Mullin, Millane
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.