Blair Collection > Surnames & place-names of the Isle of Man

Smtnamita of WLaWvt \0vi(tixu 47
Kelly, contracted from Mac Ceallaigh, ' Ceallach's
son ' {ceallach, ' war, strife ').
' Death of Ceallach, son of Maelcobba in the Brugb, a.d. 654.'*
' Ceallach, Joint Monarch of Ireland, died a.d. 656.'t
The name is as common in the Isle of Man as
it is in Ireland. Connell Mageoghan, who translated
the Annals of Clonmacnoise, in 1627, gives the
following account of the O'Kellys, under a.d. 778:
'Though the O'Kellys are so common every-
where that it is unknown whether the dispersed
parties in Ireland of them be of the families of
O' Kelly, of Connaught, or Brey, .... so as
scarce there is a few parishes in the Kingdom, but
hath some one or other of these Kellys.'+
M*=Helly [1417], M*=Kelly [1429], Mac Hellie [1430],
Kellye [1601], Kelly [1605], Kelley [1628].
Braddan, Marown, Michael, German (vc) ; elsewhere (c),
except in Maughold and Lezayre.
Killey, originally Mac Gilla Ceallaigh, anglicised in
Ireland into Mac Killey Kelly and Killy Kelly. The
Mac and the Kelly have been dropped, leaving
Killey, which is identical in meaning with Gill
(see Gill). (Gaelic, Guilley ; Irish, Giolla, * a ser-
vant.') Indeed, in the Isle of Man, formerly, the
same person was called Gill and Killey indif-
ferently.
' The Clan of Mac Gilla Ceallaigh, the honourable.'§
The name is of late introduction, and is purely
Manx.
* Chron. Scot., p. 95. f Four Mast., Vol. I., p. 269.
X O'Donovan, Notes, pp. 2, 3. § O'Dubhagain, p. 67.