Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
family name which has spread throughout the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
-speaking world.
Origins and history
The name "Quilty" is an Anglicized form of the ancient Gaelic name of "Caoilte" (pronounced: Kweelteh). There was a mythic Celtic warrior (c. 3rd Century A.D.) by the name of
Caílte mac Rónáin
Caílte (or Modern Irish Caoilte) mac Rónáin was a nephew of Fionn mac Cumhaill, a warrior and a member of the fianna in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. He is described as being able to run at remarkable speed and communicate with animals, a ...
, who was a member of the
Fianna
''Fianna'' ( , ; singular ''Fian''; gd, Fèinne ) were small warrior-hunter bands in Gaelic Ireland during the Iron Age and early Middle Ages. A ''fian'' was made up of freeborn young males, often aristocrats, "who had left fosterage but had ...
and the nephew of
Fionn mac Cumhaill
Fionn mac Cumhaill ( ; Old and mga, Find or ''mac Cumail'' or ''mac Umaill''), often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is leader of the '' Fianna'' bands o ...
. According to legend he lived long enough to be baptized by
St. Patrick
ST, St, or St. may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Stanza, in poetry
* Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band
* Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise
* Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy a ...
(c.389-461). The book "If You're A Wee Bit Irish: a chart of old Irish families collected from folk tradition" by William Durning (1978) recounts an alleged ancestry of Caoilte back to Adam.
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
(1882–1941) in chapter twelve of his masterpiece,
Ulysses
Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature.
Ulysses may also refer to:
People
* Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name
Places in the United States
* Ulysses, Kansas
* Ulysse ...
, (1922) has "The tribe of Caolte" as one of the twelve tribes of Ireland in a biblical parallel to the twelve tribes of Israel. Quilty is also a small town in County Clare Ireland, though this quilty is an anglicization of a different Irish word "coillte" meaning "woods". The name is considered a sept of the dynastic
Dál gCais
The Dalcassians ( ga, Dál gCais ) are a Gaelic Irish clan, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became very powerful in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent ...
of the
Kingdom of Thomond
Thomond (Classical Irish: ; Modern Irish: ), also known as the kingdom of Limerick, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nenag ...
, and has the motto "Lámh Ládir an Nachtar" meaning "the strong hand uppermost."
There are various spellings of the name: Caoilte, Caolte, and Cuallta in
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
, and Kielty, Kealty, Keelty, Keilty, Kelty, Kilty, and Quilty (with or without an O' or Mc or Mac) in English. The most common variants are Kielty and Quilty. The name is possibly a derivation of ''caol'' meaning slender.
In 1850 there were over 75 families bearing the name of "Quilty" in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, over half of them in
County Limerick
"Remember Limerick"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province
, subd ...
. As of 2005, there were about 300 families bearing the name of "Quilty" in the United States alone, almost half them in the northeast, with the highest concentrations in the states of Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Illinois, and California.
Notable people with the surname
*
Andrew Quilty
Andrew Quilty is an Australian photojournalist based in Afghanistan.
Career
After graduating from a TAFE photography course in 2004, Quilty undertook an informal internship at Fairfax Media which led to full-time employment.
, Australian photographer, cousin of Ben
*
Ben Quilty
Ben Quilty (born 1973) is an Australian artist and social commentator, who has won a series of painting prizes: the 2014 Prudential Eye Award, 2011 Archibald Prize, and 2009 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. He has been described as one of Aus ...
(born 1973), Australian painter
*
Johnny Quilty
John Francis Quilty (January 21, 1921 – September 12, 1969) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre. He played 125 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) playing for the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. He was awarded the Calder M ...
(1921–1969), Canadian ice hockey player
*
Michelle Quilty
Michelle Quilty is a camogie player. She played in the 2009 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final and was a member of the Team of the Championship for 2011. With a total of 5-26 she was the fourth highest scoring player in the Champion ...
(1990–), Irish camogie player
*
Sean Quilty
Sean Patrick Quilty (16 May 1966 – 16 July 2022) was an Australian long-distance runner
Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in ...
(1966–2022), Australian Olympic marathon runner
* Sylvester "Silver" Quilty (1891–1976), Canadian football player
*
Tom Quilty
Thomas John Quilty (4 April 1887 – 1979) was an Australian station owner, pastoralist, philanthropist, and bush poet.C. McAdam, Boundary Lines (Melb, 1995); E. E. Quilty, Nothing Prepared Me! (Caloundra, Qld, 1999); West Australian, 12 Jun ...
(1887–1979), Australian station owner, philanthropist and poet
*
Tim Quilty
Timothy Jamin Quilty is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Democratic Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council between 2018 and 2022, representing Northern Victoria Region. He was not successful in his re-election to the Legis ...
, Australian politician.
Fictional characters with the name Quilty
*Bridie Quilty, protagonist in the film ''
I See a Dark Stranger
''I See a Dark Stranger'' – released as ''The Adventuress'' in the United States – is a 1946 British World War II spy film with touches of light comedy, by the team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Deborah Kerr and T ...
'' (1941), played by
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
During her international film career, Kerr won a ...
*Clare Quilty, a fictional character in the 1955 novel ''
Lolita
''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Hum ...
'' by
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...
Quilty Nunataks Quilty Nunataks () is a group of nunataks (exposed ice-free ridges) which extend over 8 miles (13 km), located 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the Thomas Mountains in Palmer Land. Discovered by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition (RARE) ...
, a geographic feature of Antarctica named for geologist Patrick Quilty
;In music
*
Quilty
Quilty is an Irish family name which has spread throughout the English-speaking world.
Origins and history
The name "Quilty" is an Anglicized form of the ancient Gaelic name of "Caoilte" (pronounced: Kweelteh). There was a mythic Celtic warrior ...
was an Irish folk group named after the Clare village, mainly hailing from
County Londonderry
County Londonderry (Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulste ...
, who released one album entitled "Music of Ireland" through Arfolk/Escalibur in 1979.
* Clare Quilty is a rock group from Virginia, USA, named for the character from ''Lolita''
;In fiction
*The Quilties are a fictional race in the novel ''
The Gnome King of Oz
''The Gnome King of Oz'' (1927) is the twenty-first in the series of Oz books created by L. Frank Baum and his successors, and the seventh by Ruth Plumly Thompson. Like nineteen of the twenty previous books, it was illustrated by John R. Neill ...
'' by
Ruth Plumly Thompson
Ruth Plumly Thompson (27 July 1891 – 6 April 1976) was an American writer of children's stories, best known for writing many novels placed in Oz, the fictional land of L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ...
;Media
*''Quilty'' was an American magazine published by
F+W
F+W, (formerly F+W Publications and F+W Media), was a media and e-commerce company headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1913, F+W published magazines, books, digital products (including e-books and e-magazines), produced online video, offe ...