Ó Faoláin

Rev Patrick Woulfe
Irish Names and Surnames
1923

Ó FAOLÁIN—I—O Whealane, O Phelane, O Foelane, O Folane, O Fylane, O'Phelan, Phelan, Whelan, Philan, Fylan, &c.; 'descendant of Faolán' (dim of faol, a wolf); the name (1) of a numerous and once powerful Munster family, who before the Anglo-Norman invasion were lords of the Decies, in the present counties of Waterford and Tipperary; and (2) of a numerous Leinster family who were anciently seated at Magh Lacha, a plain in the barony of Kells, Co. Kilkenny. In the 16th century the name was found in nearly all the counties of Munster and Leinster, and also in Roscommon and Galway. It was often pronounced Ó Fualáin, and, by the aspiration of the initial f, changed to Ó hAoláin and Ó hUaláin, which see.

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