Malone — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Maoil Eoin
Meaning: 'devotee of St John'
Traditional stronghold: Offaly, Westmeath
Pronunciation: ma-LOHN; Irish Ó Maoil Eoin: oh mwale OH-in
History of the Malone name
Malone is Ó Maoil Eoin, 'descendant of the devotee of St John', and the family's history is bound up with the great monastic city of Clonmacnoise on the Shannon, where Malones served for generations as abbots and bishops. From that ecclesiastical heartland the name spread through Offaly, Westmeath and into Dublin and Clare. In the eighteenth century the Malones of Baronston, Westmeath, were a notable parliamentary family. The name's most famous bearer is fictional: Molly Malone, the cockle-selling heroine of Dublin's unofficial anthem, whose statue stands off Grafton Street.
Variants: Maloan · O'Malone · Muldoon (erroneously)
Famous bearers of the name
- Edmund Malone — Dublin-born Shakespearean scholar who exposed the Ireland forgeries.
- Anthony Malone — Eighteenth-century Irish barrister and Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland.
- John C. Malone — Irish-American cable television billionaire and major landowner in Ireland.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Daly · Dunne · Carroll · Mooney · Hennessy · Dempsey · Molloy · Coughlan