Lally
An Irish surname from Ó Maolalaidh, shortened over time to Lally.
The #5,931 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 53,159 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical sources connect Lally to the Irish Gaelic surname Ó Maolalaidh, which was later reduced in stages to O’Mullally, then O’Lally, and finally Lally. The first element, maol, in Irish surnames often refers to a devotee or follower, while the full name is generally understood as an old family-name formation rather than a transparent everyday word. The form is therefore an anglicized shortening of an older Gaelic clan name.
History
The surname is associated with a Gaelic family of west and central Ireland, especially around Connacht and Galway. Nineteenth-century genealogical writers linked the name to an early medieval ancestor and traced its later anglicization into the modern form. Bearers of the name are also known in French and Irish history, including the Lally Tolendal line in France.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century writers treated Lally as a shortened form of O’Mullally, showing the typical Anglo-Irish dropping of the Gaelic prefix over time.
From the historical record
“Lacy, LALLY. From an old genealogy of this family it appears that Amlavus O'Maolalla, chief of Tulla-uy-Maolalla, was descended in the thirteenth generation fromMaolalla, who, at the close of the tenth century, was ruler of IMoen-nioge, now Clanricarde. The name was shortened first to O'MulIall}', then to O'Lally…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom