More Laois & Offaly Surnames

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L - M

This name in modern times is spelt in three different ways - Lawlor, Lalor, Lawler - the first of these being slightly more numerous than the others. In Irish it is O Leathlaoghair, which would appear to denote descendant of the half leper, no doubt a nickname arising from physical defect and not to be taken literally. The prefix O, it may be noted, which was discarded during the period of Gaelic submergence, has not been resumed in modern times. The O'Lalors, like their kinsmen the O'Mores, were one of the Seven Septs of Leix. They were located near the famous Rock of Dunamase in Co. Leix, but were driven from this territory by the English invaders under Queen Elizabeth 1. The scene of the making of the treaty, as a result of which the leading men of the Seven Septs were transplanted to Co. Kerry in 1609, is still called Lalor's Mills. The peasants and workers of the O'Lalor sept remained in their old territory, a fact which is borne out by the prevalence of the name there to-day: nearly all the Lalors, Lawlors and Lawlers in Ireland are to be found in Leinster, either in Leix or in the counties lying to the east of it. The name of one Harry Lalor is traditionally preserved as the hero of the massacre of Mullaghmast in 1577 in which many innocent and unsuspecting Lalors, O'Mores and other inhabitants of Leix were treacherously done to death by the O'Dempseys in conjunction with the English planters of the district. The fall of the O'Dempseys as a great family was, according to John O'Donovan, locally attributed to this disgraceful event. Rev. James O'Lalor (or Lawler), a Co. Kilkenny Parish Priest, wrote in 1764 a notable elegy in Irish on one of the Kavanaghs, which was published by John O'Donovan some 90 years later. The editor in his introduction mentions several distinguished Lalors all of Leix or Kilkenny. He does not, however, mention the revolutionary James Fintan Lalor (1807-1849), son of Patrick Lalor, sometime M.P. for Leix; his brother Peter (1823-1889) led the insurgent miners at Eureka, Australia, in 1854 and subsequently became a minister and speaker of the Legislative Council of Victoria. John Lawlor (1820-1901), the sculptor, is remembered by the statues in London, and Cork and Limerick. Alice Lalor (1766-1846), better known as Mother Teresa, was a prominent figure in the religious life of America.

The sept of Ó Learghusa belonged to the barony of Carra in Mayo: It is found in Connacht as late as 1591 (as O'Larysa in Fiant No. 5611), by 1659 Petty's "census" lists Larissy as a principal Irish name in the barony of Maryborough, Co. Leix; it occured in the Hearth Money Rolls of North Tipperary about then and in the last century, Griffith's Valuation shows that people of the name were numerous in Co. Kilkenny, with some families also in counties of Leix and Waterford. Of these was James Larrissey, a prominent member of.James Freeney's highwaymen about a hundred years earlier. There were two distinct septs of Ó Learghusa, one in Connacht and one in south Leinster.

The MacEvoys were one of the "Seven Septs of Leix", the leading members of which were transplanted to Co. Kerry in 1609. The lesser clansmen remained in their own territory and Leix is one of the areas in which the name is found fairly commonly today. This sept was called Mac Fhiodhbhuidhe which is pronounced Mac-ee-vwee, whence the approximately phonetic anglicization MacEvoy. (Buidhe - yellow - was always written "boy" in early attempts to put Irish names into English form). Formerly chiefs of the present barony of Moygish in Co. Westmeath, this sept in early times settled in Leix and became lords of the territory now comprising the parishes of Mountrath and Raheen in that county. The MacEvoys, called Muintir Fhiodhbhuide, appear there in a map of Leix dated 1563. Another quite distinct Irish sept, in Gaelic MacGiolla Bhuide, normally anglicized MacElwee and MacGilloway (names now well known in Counties Donegal and Derry), is shortened in the spoken language to Mac a'bhuidhe, hence the form MacAvoy or MacEvoy in English. Conn Mac Giolla Bhuidhe, Abbot of Mungret in 1100, was one of these. The name MacEvoy is rare in Connacht now but fairly common in Armagh and Louth. There it is a synonym of MacVeagh, I.e. Mac an bheatha, an Oriel sept. Considering their importance in the past it is remarkable that so few MacEvoys appear as distinguished individuals in any sphere of Irish history. Longford born Francis MacEvoy (1751-1804) was a distinguished President of the Royal College of Surgeons distinguished President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland.

The Gaelic surname Mac an tSaoir belongs both to Ireland and Scotland. In Scotland it is always MacIntyre. In Ireland the Maclntyres slightly outnumber the Mac Ateers, but a number of the former are Ulstermen of Scottish extraction. Together they are estimated in population statistics to number some 4,500 people in Ireland: almost all the MacAteers are in Ulster (Armagh, Antrim and Donegal), while the MacIntyres are less concentrated in that area, with a considerable number in Co. Sligo. Ballymacateer is a place near Lurgan; Carrickmacintyre is in Co. Mayo. The 1659 census shows that they were numerous in Co. Donegal at that time, and the hearth money rolls of somewhat later show that the name was also common in Co. Monaghan. The bishop of Clogher who held the sea from 1268-1287 was Michael Mac An tSaoir and the famous St. Kieran of Clonmacnois, who flourished seven centuries earlier, was called Mac an tSaoir. MacAteer, or MacIntyre, is one of those names which had been subjected to anglicization by translation. Saor is the Irish word for a certain type of tradesman such as a mason or a carpenter. The name has never become Mason, but Carpenter was fairly widely used as a synonym, so that the surname Carpenter in Ireland is often not English in origin but MacAteer in origin. Also, since saor has another meaning of free, the English surname Freeman sometimes hides a MacAteer beginning. It is not improbable that the English name Searson was also sometimes used in the same way. It has been used as the anglicized form of Ó Saorthaigh. Freeman also does duty, in this case by mistranslation, for Ó Saorthaigh, the name of a small Westmeath sept normally called Seery in English. A branch of this, or possibly a distinct family of the same name, was also at one time located in Donegal, today descendants are now found in small numbers in north Connaght, where some of its members are called Seery and some Freeman. The adoption of Carpenter for MacAteer took place for the most part in the Dublin area, so that Most Rev. Dr. John Carpenter, Archbishop of Dublin from 1770 to 1786, who is remembered for his prominent part in the struggle for Catholic Emancipation, probably belonged to a branch of that sept. He was interested in Irish and in close touch with the Irish poet O'Neachtain; he wrote his name in Irish as Mac an tSaoir. However, Henry Carpenter (fl. 1790), poet and scribe, known in his native Irish language as Enri Mac an tSaoir, was a Clareman. The name also occurs in Co. Clare in a place-name-Cahermackateer, near Corofin; but as a surname it is very rare in that county in any of the above forms.

Maher, also written Meagher, is in Irish O Meachair, derived from the word meachar, meaning hospitable - Maher is a word of two syllables, not pronounced Marr. Of the same stock as the O'Carrolls of Ely it belongs to the barony of Ikerrin in Co. Tipperary - in fact fifty per cent of the eight thousand people of the name come from Co. Tipperary. Maher territory was near Roscrea, at the foot of the famous Devil's Bit Mountain and, unlike some Gaelic septs, they were not ousted by Norman invaders but remained in possession side by side with the Ormond Butlers. Though this is a genuine Gaelic O name it is rarely, if ever, met with in its English form with the prefix. One of the adventurous and ill-starred rapparees of the seventeenth century was Capt. John Meagher, who was captured and hanged in 1690. Father Maher (1793-1874) was a distinguished ecclesiastic; and Thomas Francis Meagher (1823-1867), known as "Meagher of the Sword", was one of the most prominent of the Young Irelanders. He was later leader of the Irish Brigade in the Federal Army in the American Civil War.

The normal form of Mangan in Irish is O Mongain, which is more phonetically anglicized as Mongan in parts of Connacht; but even in Mayo, the original homeland of one of the septs so called, it is more usually Mangan nowadays. The Munster Mangans, originally Co. Cork, are now found more in Co.. Limerick. James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849), the poet, came from Shanagolden, Co. Limerick, where the family to which he belonged still live. Rev. Edward Mangin (1772-1852) was also a poet and essayist of note. Mangan is also found as a synonym of Manahan (a form of Monahan, q.v.) and of Mannion. The Munster Mangans (in Irish O Mongain) have been long enough established in Co.. Limerick to have a townland (in the parish of Dromcolliher) called after them viz. Ballymongane. This is also the name of a townland in the parish of Termonomongan in Co. Tyrone, appears to be now almost extinct. There are twelve families of Mangan in the Hearth Money Rolls for Co. Tipperary (1665-1667). Charles Mongan (1754-1826), son of Dominic Mungan or Mongan, a Co. Tyrone blind itinerant harper, became a Protestant and having assumed the surname Warburton was appointed successively Bishop of Limerick and of Cloyne. Three brothers named Warburton (viv. 1810-1894) were of sufficient importance to be included in Crone's Dictionary of Irish Biography. Though of Offaly they were not in the direct line of the family of Garryhinch in that county, who were very extensive landowners.

Belonging primarily to east Clare: the townland Ballyminogue in the parish of Tuamgraney marks the centre of its present location. It is to be found also on the other side of Lough Deg, where several families were resident when the 1659 "census" was taken. The Bishop of Leighlin who died in 1050, Clerichen Ó Muineóc, described in the Annals of Loch Cé as "tower of the piety of Erin", was perhaps of this sept, though Leighlin is far from Clare. In modern Irish the name is Ó Muineóg. Muineóg, is said to be a diminutive of manach, a monk, and this derivation, though not generally accepted, would seem to be corroborated by the fact that Monaghan and Mannix, both similarly derived, are recorded by Matheson as synonyms of Minogue. In Offaly Ó Muineóg is anglicized Minnock and as such is found there in small numbers today.

Lavelle and Mulfaal are anglicized forms of the Irish Ó Maolfábhail. In some places it is in the form of Melville, an aristocratic-sounding surname which, has been adopted by some Mulvihils. Lavelle is ,the usual form: it is of often occurs in Connacht, particularly in Co. Mayo, where Lawell is a variant of Lavelle. Mulfaal belongs to Co. Donegal: the surname is of different and distinct origin of a family who descended from Fergus, grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and were chiefs of Carrickbraghy, in the barony of Inishowen. There it has been widely corrupted to MacFaci, MacFall and even MacPaul and Paul. O'Mulfoyle is listed in the 1659 "census" as a principal Irish name in the barony of Tirkeerran, which is continguous to Inishowen. The most distinguished of the name was Dr. James Augustine MacFaul (1850-1917), Bishop of Trenton, protagonist of Irish Catholic causes in U.S.A. The families of Ó Maolfabhail who are now known as Lavelle are of the sept originally seated at Donaghpatrick in the barony of Clare (Co. Galway). O'Lawell, O'Lowell and O'Lavell appear in the seventeenth century Hearth Money Rolls for Co. Armagh. Mulhall is never used as a synonym of Mulfaal. It is the name of a Leinster sept, Ó Maolchathail in Irish; it signifies descendant of a follower of St. Cathal or Cahill and was O'Mulcahill in its earlier anglicized form. It is spelt Mulchaell in the 1659 "census" and appeared among the more numerous names in three different baronies of Co. Leix, which is the place of origin of the sept and also its principal location in modern times. Some of the Halleys of nearby north Tipperary are Mulhalls, though Halley (Ó hAilche) is primarily the name of a small sept located around Templemore and (Ó hAille) of another in Co. Clare. There are several seventeenth and eighteenth century testators named Hally in the will indices for the diocese of Waterford and Lismore. Michael George Mulhall (1836-1900), author of several statistical works, founded the first English language newspaper in South America.

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