I always suspected I was decended from royalty. Heading out to buy a tiara! 9. ONeill – from a champion, Niall of the Nine Hostages The ONeill family traces its history back to 360 A.D. to the legendary warrior king of Ireland, Niall of the Nine Hostages, who is said to have been responsible for bringing St. Patrick to Ireland. Niall is also said to have been incredibly fertile – he has 3 million descendents worldwide. “O’Neill” is derived from two separate Gaelic words, Ua Niall, which means grandson of Niall, and Neill meaning champion. Ireland’s ONeills were known by the nickname Creagh, which comes from the Gaelic word craobh meaning branch, because they were known to camouflage themselves to resemble the forest when fighting the Norsemen. Crafty fellows, those O’Neills. Read more: irishcentral/roots/Irish-surnames-explained---the-meaning-behind-the-top-ten-clan-names-128338993.html#ixzz2l0UYlSoL Follow us: @IrishCentral on Twitter | IrishCentral on Facebook
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:21:37 +0000
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