Houlihan — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó hUallacháin
Meaning: 'proud (from uallach)'
Traditional stronghold: Clare, Kerry
Pronunciation: HOO-li-han; Irish Ó hUallacháin: oh HOO-a-la-khawn
History of the Houlihan name
Ó hUallacháin, from uallach, 'proud', originated as a sept in County Clare and spread south through Limerick, Kerry and Cork, its anglicisations splitting by region: Houlihan in the southwest, Holohan in Kilkenny and the midlands, Holland in parts of Cork. The name owns a curious double life in the wider culture. Kathleen Ni Houlihan became the personification of Ireland herself, immortalised in the 1902 play by Yeats and Lady Gregory, while one popular theory traces the English word 'hooligan' to a rowdy stage-Irish Hooligan family of 1890s London music hall, though the word's true origin remains unproven.
Variants: Hoolihan · Holohan · O'Houlihan
Famous bearers of the name
- Con Houlihan — Castleisland-born sportswriter, one of the most loved columnists in Irish journalism.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Brien · O'Sullivan · O'Connor · McCarthy · Kennedy · Quinn · O'Connell · Fitzgerald