Kelly is the second most common surname in Ireland, an anglicized form of the Gaelic Ó Ceallaigh, descendant of Ceallach — a personal name scholars read variously as bright-headed, warlike, or devoted to the church. The name's most historically significant line were the Ó Ceallaigh kings of Uí Maine, a sovereign Gaelic kingdom spanning what is now east County Galway and south County Roscommon, ruled from a lineage traced to a ninth-century king named Ceallach. Their territory, centered near Loughrea, remained a stronghold of Kelly families for centuries.
The Uí Maine Kellys left a lasting mark on Irish history. Tadhg Mór Ó Ceallaigh, King of Uí Maine, died fighting alongside Brian Boru at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, and in 1316 the family hosted the celebrated O'Kelly's Feast, drawing poets and scholars from across Ireland in an act of patronage still remembered in the phrase Fáilte Uí Cheallaigh, the welcome of the O'Kellys. Under their patronage scribes compiled the Book of Uí Maine, one of the great medieval Irish manuscripts, and their arms bear the Enfield, a mythical creature unique to Irish heraldry. Like most Gaelic dynasties, the Kellys lost their lands in the Cromwellian and Williamite confiscations of the seventeenth century, and the diaspora carried the name worldwide in the centuries that followed.
Today Kelly is found throughout Ireland, most densely in Galway, Roscommon, Mayo and Meath, and among Irish descendants everywhere — from balladeer Luke Kelly to Grace Kelly of Hollywood and Monaco. This collection turns that long Connacht history into keepsakes for the home — woven blankets, garden flags, mugs, coasters, ornaments and apparel bearing the Kelly name and crest. Read the fuller history of the Uí Maine Kellys in this Kelly surname history.
