The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-06-13
THE ORIGIN or THE IRISH
An Interesting Work Published Re-
ss Gently by Mr.. John
Rooney. 5.
IRISH NAMES ARE ACCOUNTED FOR
IA Sketch that VIII Prove Highly In
teresting to the Irish in
General.

F .
For the interest and edihcation of the
Irish in all parts Of the world, and particu-
larly for Irish-Americans, Mr.. John Roo
4 ney has recently published book entitled
''The Genealogical History of Irish Fam
ilies," says the New York Sun. About SOC
families Of Milesian descent are given and
about IS of Norman descent. In the histo-
~ are found many names familiar IN TINS
locality; such we'll known and Characters
tic Irish names as Ahern, Arthur, Barry
Bradley, Branigan, Brogan, Brown, Gala
CHAN, Carey, Carroll, Casey. Cavanagn
Conway, Corrigan, Curran, Daley, Delaney
Dempsey, Donnelly, Dunn, Eagan ELLIOTT
Pagan, Fahy, Flanagan, Flynn, Fogarty'
Gaffney, Gallagher, Harrsty, Hennessy
J. Hogan, Kearney, keenan,, Kelly, Madigan
{ Mallon, Moriarity, Mulligan, Murphy, most
of the known and some Of the unknown
Macs and Mes Noonan, about fifty Us,
Phelan, Quinlan, Rafferty,, Regan, Rourke
Ryan, Shea, Sullivan, Tierney, Tracey, and
Ward.
AS saving of time it may be well to
state that all the true Irish FAMILIES men
toned by Mr.. Rooney are descended from
2 Milesius mostly through MS son
Heremon, though some are IN tne
line of Heber, and very few OF II. Az
the end of the book he gives very rev
Norman families who became Irish by at
flllation.
An Irish name which has troubled many
persons in its pronunciation is Geognegan'
also written Geoghan, or Geghan. orlgl-
nally the name was Eochagain, sign1fylng
dcorkeeper The Geoghegans were
powerful and warlike tribe, and from the
beginning of the Anglo-Norman INVASION
were at war with the lntrudets, the
,fpht continuing down to the time Of Eliza
beth.
II NAV be a surprise to some members
of the extensive family of Kenny to
know that their names signlf1es Inc
weary Like all the rest of Mr.. Room
ev,s friends the Kenny is descended from
Milesius, King Of Spain, their line beane
throug the son, Ir The founder OF the
family was Conal Kearnoch, the cele-
brated warrior son Of Amerigin, fourth IN
degree from the chieftain' Rory O.More,
Who gave his name to his tribe in Ulster,
n 81. The possessions OF the sept
were located in the present country OF
donegal. They were chiefs III Moy lin,
In Mayo and in Muintir Cionalth. .,
A large and prominent clan, many OF
whose descendants are scattered ABROAD
IN this country, was the Cleary, OCleary
or Clark family. Their ancient name,
Cleirighs, signifies t"The Clerk" and was
taken from Cleidach, one Of their cele-
hrated chiefs in the tenth century.
They held possessions in Antrim donegal
. and Galway and were celebrated as
hereditary historians to the O'Donnells
and the learned authors OF the Annals
of tie Four Masters and other valuable
works on Irish history and antlqultles'
This family was CONSPICUOUS In the wal
of the revolution.
An interesting instance of the s1mpll-
Acation Of a name is that OF Deaghdnalr
which signifies "just man." ana mas
evo,uted through the ages into the Dew
or r. is through the son Heber that the
Devers claim the blood of Milesius. Inc
founder of the family was Eagan More
grandson of the prolific Con OF the Hun
bred Battles The possessions OF thus clan
were located in the present country ol
Donegal. +,
The name of Hoolahan, ridiculed In
song and story has an honorable place III
Irish history The original name, Hual-
,achain. means cloud noise and was oe-
rived from a. chief Of the sept who pos
sessed a. voice of great power. me HOOP
ahans are descendants of Ir, son OF Mile
sins The founder of the family was
Conal Kearnoch Their territory com
nrised the present barony OF Longford IN
the county of Galway, and the parish
Lusmegh on the Leinster side OF the RlV'
/. or Shannon in Kings county.
The Sullivans, or O'Sullivans, come III
for a large share of Mr.. Rooney's atten'
tion. He traces them down the ages
showing up their mighty deeds In b!aze
of glory. Originally the name wa:
Suilleachain, signifying "Qulck-slgnt
ed
One Of the Norman names given o3
? the anthor is Butler. The Buffers spor
an extraordinary crest, consisting OF al
aigrette of ostrich feathers rampant on
crown full of spikes (Which must nave
been extremely to wear) with small
crescent just over the peak OF the crown
The Buffers have two notices, one
.Depressus extoller," and the othe
'.Come je trouve,'' which degenerate
scion of the race now extant translates
"Any old way at ALL" The Buffers uset
to be Fitzwalters before they went Il
4 England with William the Conqueror
and there is some doubt as to Whethe
they shifted to escape their creditors o.
because one of them was appointed chic
butler for Ireland. At any rate, they set
tied Ireland and branched extensively
s One branch came to this country, ant
of this family was Benjamin +. Butler
s /: whose life Mr.. Rooney gives an appre
,ciative sketch.
Another Norman Irish family Of dis
tinction was the De Lacys, who also cam
over with William the Conqueror and set
tied in Ireland in consequence Of exten
siye grants there. They fought the orig
inal occupants and made local histor,
very much of mortuary record for sew
eral generations. Their crest Is an ex
ultant eagle perched on horizontal bar
Der pole, and their moto Mems imota
1nanet."
Regarding the Dunn, Dunno or O'Dun1
family Mr.. Rooney quotes the Gaelic poe
# O'Heer.n:
iissOver Hy Regan Of the mighty victories
/ Are active warriors who conquer in battle
a, cf ie,f ~ fhe cOnnuerir,P trCODS