Quinlan — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Caoindealbháin
Meaning: 'of graceful form'
Traditional stronghold: Kerry, Tipperary
Pronunciation: KWIN-lan; Irish Ó Caoindealbháin: oh kween-DYAL-uh-wawn
History of the Quinlan name
Ó Caoindealbháin combines caoin ('gentle, graceful') and dealbh ('form, shape'). The sept was originally of royal Meath stock, claiming descent from Laoghaire, the high king who confronted St Patrick, and their early territory lay near Trim; there the name was anglicised Kindellan, a form carried to Spain by emigre officers. The branch that migrated into Munster produced the modern forms: Quinlan, dominant in Tipperary and Kerry, and Quinlivan, the characteristic spelling of Clare and Limerick. The name is now overwhelmingly a Munster one. Its bearers range from Jacobite and Wild Geese soldiers to one of the Irish Army's most celebrated field commanders.
Variants: Quinlivan · Kindellan · Quinlevan
Famous bearers of the name
- Pat Quinlan — Irish Army commandant who led A Company through the 1961 siege of Jadotville in the Congo.
- Alan Quinlan — Munster flanker with two Heineken Cups and 27 Ireland caps.
- Sir Michael Quinlan — British defence mandarin and leading Catholic thinker on nuclear ethics.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Brien · Ryan · O'Sullivan · O'Connor · McCarthy · Kennedy · O'Connell · Fitzgerald