O'Leary - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Laoghaire
Meaning: “keeper of calves”
Traditional stronghold: Cork
Pronunciation: oh-LEER-ee; Irish Ó Laoghaire: oh LAY-ruh
History of the O'Leary name
The O'Learys, Ó Laoghaire, take their name from Laoghaire ('calf-herd'), a personal name famously borne by a fifth-century High King of Ireland. They were a leading sept of the Corca Laoidhe, an ancient pre-Gaelic people of southwest Cork, originally seated on the coast around Ross Carbery. Under pressure from the Anglo-Normans and the expanding MacCarthys they moved inland to the upper valley of the River Lee around Inchigeelagh and Ballingeary, a district still called Uíbh Laoghaire (Iveleary) after them. There they held castles such as Carrignacurra and served as trusted allies of the MacCarthys of Muskerry. The name remains overwhelmingly associated with County Cork.
Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, the 1773 lament composed by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill for her husband Art Ó Laoghaire, shot dead at Carriganima, is regarded as one of the greatest poems in the Irish language.
Variants: Leary · O Laoghaire
Famous bearers of the name
- Daniel Florence O'Leary - Cork-born aide-de-camp to Simón Bolívar whose memoirs are a key source on South American independence.
- Peadar Ó Laoghaire - Priest and pioneering Irish-language writer whose novel Séadna shaped modern literary Irish.
- Michael O'Leary - Mullingar-born businessman, long-serving chief executive of Ryanair.
- Michael John O'Leary - Cork-born soldier awarded the Victoria Cross in 1915.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · O'Sullivan · McCarthy · Daly · Collins · Flynn · Healy · Casey