Maille mac Conall, member of the Umhaill, ancestor and

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

of the O'Malley family of

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the yew trees") is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Coun ...

. Maille was a grandson of

Cosgrach mac Flannbhrath Cosgrach mac Flannbhrath, King of Umaill, died 812. Flathghal's relationship to the kings Dunghal mac Flaithniadh (died 776) and Aedhghal (died 779) is uncertain, as they does not seem to appear in the extant genealogies. However, he was a son ...

, king of Ui Maill (died 812). He had an unnamed brother, from whom the O'Gormghaile family descend. His father's brother, Colman, is given as ancestor of an O'Colman family, while Fergus, a son of Flannabhra mac Cumusgrach (died 773), is given as an ancestor of the family of Fergus and the Muinter Rooney. Maille himself does not appear in the

Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over t ...

. He appears in a number of genealogical collections, such as

Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (), also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius (fl. 1643 – January 1671) was an Irish scribe, translator, histori ...

Leabhar na nGenealach ''Leabhar na nGenealach'' ("Book of Genealogies") is a massive genealogical collection written mainly in the years 1649 to 1650, at the college-house of St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church, Galway, by Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh. He continued to add m ...

. Hubert T. Knox made use of this source when drawing up family trees of the Ui Mail, and gives the O'Malley genealogy in his book, ''The History of Mayo''.

Pedigree

Maille's ''

floruit ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicat ...

'' is uncertain. His descendants began using his name as a surname in the late 11th/early 12th century. The earliest members of the family to use O'Maille/O'Malley as a surname would have been his great-grandson, Dubhdara. Knox gives a pedigree of

Domnall Ruadh O Maille Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

, king of Ui Maill, who was killed in 1337. It traces his descent from Maile thus: ''Domnall Ruadh mac Brian m. Domnall m. Muiredhach m. Domnall Finn m. Muiredhach m. Dubhdara m. Muiredhach m. Dubhdara m. Flannabhra m. Seachnusach m. Maille.'' The surname O Maille/O'Malley/Malley is one of the most common surnames in County Mayo, and features strongly in the area's history.

References

* ''The History of Mayo'', Hubert T. Knox, 1908, p. 388, 389. {{DEFAULTSORT:Maille mac Conall 9th-century Irish people People from County Mayo