O’Connell
Ó Conaill · descendant of Conall
O’Connell is Ó Conaill in Irish, said oh KUN-il, and means descendant of Conall.
Conall is read as strong as a wolf. Daniel O’Connell, the Liberator, won Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and has a street in nearly every town in the country.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Conaill
- His daughter: Ní Chonaill
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Chonaill
- The family together: Uí Chonaill
Where it comes from
Kerry
Also spelt
O’Connell, Connell, Connel
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.