Kelleher - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Céileachair
Meaning: “dear companion”
Traditional stronghold: Cork, Kerry
Pronunciation: KEL-a-her; Irish Ó Céileachair: oh KAY-lah-khar
History of the Kelleher name
Kelleher represents Ó Céileachair, from céileachar, meaning 'companionable' or 'spouse-loving'. Tradition traces the family to Céileachar, a kinsman of Brian Boru, making them Dalcassian in origin, with their earliest home in County Clare. In the fourteenth century the sept migrated south, and ever since the name has belonged overwhelmingly to Cork and Kerry, where it is among the characteristic surnames of the region. In America the spelling was often simplified to Kelleher or Kelliher, and the O prefix has rarely been restored anywhere. The name is still thick on the ground around Cork city, Macroom and Killarney.
Variants: Kelliher · Keleher · Kellaher · O'Kelleher
Famous bearers of the name
- Herb Kelleher - Irish-American co-founder and famously colourful CEO of Southwest Airlines.
- Caoimhín Kelleher - Cork-born goalkeeper for Liverpool and the Republic of Ireland.
- John V. Kelleher - Pioneering Harvard professor of Irish studies.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · O'Sullivan · O'Connor · McCarthy · Daly · O'Connell · Collins · Fitzgerald