Is Áiligh an Irish Surname

[heywood]

Here is the Woulfe reference  https://archive.org/details/irishnamessurnam00woul

I used the 'read online' option and pg 101 has the 'Ó h-Ádhlaigh name as Addly, or Addley. The book uses the old style, I think and perhaps our Irish readers will be able to elaborate.
To me it seems just a phonetic translation of the letters there.

If the grave inscription is in English, where did the Irish text come from?

[dathai]

From distant memories of well slapped leather beaten hands from the De La Salle Brothers in the 60s i  think some of the Irish transcription is Father Patrick Audley S P , MAC OR son of Siobhan Audley dont know what the other words are ,but English alternatives for Siobhan seem to be Joan or Judith.
http://www.namenerds.com/irish/trans.html

[audbr]

Hi All,

Thanks for all your  replies to my original message I have still to follow some of them up.

I think my  comments have perhaps pointed you in the wrong direction.  Father Patrick Audley is not the way to proceed as I already know a lot of information about him.

My surname is Audley, I know my ancestors back about 250 years and there is no link with Ireland.
The Audley surname appears, to me, to have originated from the name of the village of Audley in Staffordshire England.

I then discover that in the Connemara region of Galway there is a significant number of people with the surname Audley or Adley. The surnames Audley and Adley appear interchangeable in Connemara. A similar linking of the Audley and Adley surnames also took place in the county of Cheshire in England.

So my question is: How did the Audley surname get from England to Connemara? To me it seems unlikely that someone from England with the surname Audley would emigrate to some remote islands off the southern coast of Connemara an area that people living there now tell me in the 1800s was probably the poorest region of all Ireland and mainly Gaelic speaking area.

To me it seems  more likely that the inhabitants had their own Irish Surname and following the 'union' with England and the pressure to record events in English the original Irish surname became corrupted (anglicised) to Audley and Adley.  If this latter case is true there should be records somewhere of the original Surname. If anything Audley and Adley are the made up names.

I do know that the Barons Audley moved from Staffordshire England and became Earls of Castlehaven (somewhere in Cork) and Barons of Orier (I believe somewhere in Antrim?). There is also a Audleys Castle and ann Audleystown Cairn near Strangford in County Down.

So why are there a lot of prople with the Audley surname that lived in Connemara?

The monumental inscription in English has been taken from a book  that lists all the monumental inscriptions in a cemetery on Lettermullan Island (some of the recorded inscriptions are in English and others in Irish.  Also included in the book is a photograph of baby in his mothers arms. The baby is Patrick Audley and his mother is the Julia Audley died 1944 and recorded on the monumental inscription

Regards
Brian Audley

[heywood]

Have you contacted the library in Galway?

Is this right- your connection is not to Connemara but as an Audley you are curious about your surname occurring in that discrete area?

I have no idea and am not an Irish history scholar. However, theoretically, the name may have begun there with the arrival of just one person.

You question people 'emigrating' to remote islands but the flow of human traffic between England and Ireland was happening for a very long time - either willingly or unwillingly.

Searching for any historical references, there are references to the O Cadhlas but that wouldn't be pronounced with the 'd'' sound - I am trying to see a corruption of 'Cadhla' to 'Adley' but  the name is recorded as O Kealey and perhaps Kaley/Kiley.

I hope you get an answer- it's interesting. One of my family names is Malley. Some people have O'Malley in the family, others Malley. The Irish is Maille  and other members call themselves Malia - with a long 'a'.  This is from a very small area where all are closely related.

[Sonas]

I think it's difficult to be definitive about where a name might have come from without doing a fair bit of research. As heywood has said, there is a long history of movement between Ireland and Britain. There's no saying that someone may have moved to Ireland to work, for instance, or if an English person might have received a grant of land, and these Audley are descendants. The thing with Irish RC records is that they only go back so far. If these Galway Audleys converted from a different religion, or if they are a 'minor' branch or 'illegitimate' branch of a more important family, these things would take a bit of research to find out. The census also throws up Audleys in other parts of Ireland. Again, there has to be a question mark over if and how these families are connected. I don't know about there being pressure to record events / names in English after the Act of Union. Is there evidence for this?

[audbr]

Hi Heywood & Sonas,
Many thanks for both of your last comments

I am in contact with someone in Galway, who has been looking at a number of books in the library in Galway.

Correct I personally have no ancestors that come from Galway but on my website www.audleyfamilyhistory.com I have the details of approximately 20 separate branches of the Audley family, the information has been submitted by numerous people.  To me as website coordinator the Galway branch of the Audley family seems much larger than I would have expected for an English Origin surname.

I agree that a fair bit of research will be required but I find this sort of research interesting.  Whilst I am in contact with a number of people who are related to the Audley Family of Galway, I do find that the respondents to messages on Rootschat provide a wider prospective than family members.
I suppose  that DNA testing may prove interesting. I already have the DNA profiles of three English branches of the Audley Family and a potential target in the USA who is part of the Audley of Galway Family
Many thanks to all for their prospective on the Origin of the Audley surname in Galway
Regards
Brian Audley

[DaveCol]

Just for info, Griffiths Valuation shows Audley's mainly in Galway, Kilkenny and Roscommon:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&familyname=audley&firstname=&offset=0&countyname=&parishname=&unionname=&baronyname=&totalrows=38&PlaceID=0&wildcard=