284 Global WHOOLEY Family Members

WHOOLEY Family History

This Gaelic Irish surname, with variant spellings Whooley and Wholey, has an interesting history, being an Anglicized form of three distinct Gaelic sept names. The first, "O'hUallaigh", belonged to Connacht and the Munster county of Clare where the more usual Anglicized form of the name is (O)Howley; the second, "O'hUallachain", had prominent branches in Thomond (County Clare) and mid-Leinster; this particular sept name has no less than seventeen Anglicized forms including: Holohan, Houlihan and Whoolehan.