Gallagher (surname)

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Gallagher
Ó Gallchobhair

Parent house Northern Uí Néill

Country Kingdom of Tyrconnell
Founder Gallchobhair mac Rorcan
Titles • High King of Ireland
• Marshal of Tyrconnell
Cadet branches Cannon
O'Muldorey
Gallagher (Old Irish: Ó Gallchobhair, Ó Gallchobhoir; Modern Irish: Ó Gallachóir) is an Irish Gaelic clan
based most prominently in what is today County Donegal. The clan name originated in the 10th century
as a derivative of its founder Gallchobhair mac Rorcan.[citation needed] They descend in the paternal line from
the Northern Uí Néill's Cenél Conaill.[1] The immediate progenitors of the Gallaghers held the High
Kingship of Ireland during the 6th and 7th centuries in the form of Ainmuire mac Sétnai, Áed mac
Ainmuirech, Máel Coba mac Áedo and Cellach mac Máele Coba; Áed was also an ancestor of the
O'Donnell and O'Doherty clans. Indeed, during the Middle Ages, the Gallaghers were Marshals of the
Kingdom of Tyrconnell, ruled by their previously junior[citation needed] kinsmen the O'Donnells.
Contents
• 1Etymology
• 2History
o 2.1Origins
o 2.216th century Tudor-era
o 2.317th century and the Flight of the Earls
o 2.418th to 19th century under the British Act of Union
o 2.5Irish war of Independence
o 2.6In the US
• 3Arms
• 4Gallaghers
• 5See also
• 6References
• 7Further reading
• 8External links
Etymology[edit]
Main article: Irish personal naming system

In Ireland, the anglicised version of the name "Gallagher" is pronounced "Goll-a-her" in parts of its
native County Donegal in Ulster, while elsewhere in the country it is most frequently pronounced as
"Gall-a-her". Outside Ireland, there has been a corruption or alteration of the pronunciation, resulting in
"Gall-ag-er" in some parts of Britain and the USA. The name Gallagher is an anglicisation of the Irish
surname Ó Gallchobhair, Ó Gallchobhoir (or two newer spelling forms, Ó Gallchóir and Ó Gallachóir[2]),
these being masculine forms; the corresponding feminine forms are Ní Ghallchobhair (newer forms Ní
Ghallchóir[discuss] and Ní Ghallachóir). Apart from the aforementioned spelling there are at least 30
recorded variants including Gallacher, Gallager, Gallaher, Gallocher, Galliher, Gallaugher, Galagher,
Galegher, Goligher, Golliher,[3] Gollaher[4][5] and Gallahue.[6]