O'Connell Genealogy Page

O'Connell Name History

O'Connell, along with Connell, generally comes from the Irish O'Conaill, "descendant of Conall", a very popular personal name probably derived from con, meaning hound and gal meaning valour. Because of the widespread popularity of the personal name at its root, O'Connell arose separately as a surname in Connaught, Ulster and Munster.

The native O'Connells of Ulster and Connacht have dwindled in numbers and prominence over the years, however. By far the most famous and largest family was the O'Connells of Munster, where the family is recorded as chiefs in the barony of Magunihy in east Kerry.

Driven from this area by the O'Donoghues in the 11th century, they moved south and the centre of their power shifted to Ballycarbery, also in Co Kerry. Their castle was destroyed in the Cornwellian wars of the mid-17th century. Today a large majority of the O'Connells in Ireland are still to be found in Co Kerry, as well as in adjoining Co Cork.

Possibly because of the fame of Daniel O'Connell, the resumption of the "O" prefix among the family has been widespread: while almost 60 per cent of the births of the name in 1890 are "Connell", by 1996 only 12 per cent of households are recorded thus.

In Ulster, especially in Counties Antrim, Tyrone and Down, many Connells and MacConnells are of Scottish stock, their names deriving from a phonetic transliteration of Mac Dhomhnaill, since the "DH-" is not pronounced. This family was a branch of the great Clan Donald.

The Munster Family produced the most famous bearer of the name, Daniel O'Connell (1775-1845), known as "The Liberator" because he won the right to vote for Catholics. For almost 30 years he was the undisputed leader of Catholic Ireland.

Other members of the family were also well-known: Muircheratach O'Connell (1738-1830) fought with the Austrians in the Seven Year War, having changed his first name to the more acceptable Moritz, and became Imperial Chamberlain for more than 60 years, serving three Austrian emperors.

A kinsman, Sir Maurice O'Connell (1766-1848) served in both the French and British armies and married a daughter of Captain Bligh of the Bounty. Many of his descendants still live in Australia.

Mick O'Connell (b. 1937) of Valentia, Co Kerry is regarded as one of the finest Gaelic footballers of his generation. He won four All-Ireland medals and six National Football League medals.

Pictured above are the St. Mary's (Nenagh) Minor Footballers, 1950. St. Mary's won the North Tipp Minor Football title four years in a row, 1948-1951. Second from right in the middle row is Michael (Mixer) O'Connell. This picture was taken from a book titled 'More of Nenagh's Yesterdays' by Nancy Murphy and Fiona O'Brien published in 1997 by Relay Books.

This picture is of the St. Mary's (Nenagh) Minor Hurlers, North Tipp champions, 1949. Middle row 2nd from right is Michael (Mixer) O'Connell and 4th from right is Sean O'Connell  This picture was taken from a book titled 'More of Nenagh's Yesterdays' by Nancy Murphy and Fiona O'Brien published in 1997 by Relay Books.

Brian (Ben) and Bridget O'Connell in the 1920's (click on thumbnail for larger view).

Click here for the Rice Family.                     Click here for the Fullerton Family.

                                                                       Fullerton home place in County Derry.