O’Malley
Ó Máille · descendant of Mál
O’Malley is Ó Máille in Irish, said oh MAWL-yeh, and means descendant of Mál.
Mál means a chief or a noble. Gráinne Ní Mháille, Grace O’Malley, commanded a fleet from Clare Island and met Elizabeth I in 1593 as one head of state to another.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Máille
- His daughter: Ní Mháille
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Mháille
- The family together: Uí Mháille
Where it comes from
Mayo, the coast around Clew Bay
Also spelt
O’Malley, Malley, Mailey, Melia
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.