Farrelly

Farrelly is an anglicised form of Ó Faircheallaigh, a family name of the Irish nobility from County Cavan. The patronym means "descendant of Faircheallaigh", whose name means "super war". Faircheallaigh was the son of Ailill, a 7th-great-grandson of Niall, King of Ireland. He was made the heir of Saint Máedóc of Ferns in the 7th century and his Ó Faircheallaigh descendants were the Abbots of Drumlane for 7 centuries until David Ó Faircheallaigh became Bishop of Kilmore. The surname was anglicised on emigration across the Anglosphere, where Major Patrick Farrelly (m. Elizabeth Mead) founded the Farrelly political family of Pennsylvania with his son David Farrelly, author of the third Pennsylvania Constitution (1836); and General Terrence Farrelly was the first judge of Arkansas County, Speaker of the General Assembly of Arkansas Territory and author of the first Arkansas Constitution (1836); his son John Farrelly (m. Martha Clay) was a politician and his grandson John Patrick Farrelly was Bishop of Cleveland. The surname became Farley and John Farley became Cardinal Archbishop of New York. Provided by Wikipedia