O’Reilly;
Variant Spellings; O’Rahilly, O'Reiley, O'Rielly, Reilly, Reily, Riely, Rielly, Riley, Rilly, Ryely, Ryley.
O’Reilly is a very common Irish name, which is recently resuming its prefix. In Irish the name is O Raghailligh (son of Raghaillach) and is found mostly in Cavan.
The O’Reillys have always contributed prominent men to the country. Five of the name were archbishops of the Primary see of Armagh, five were bishops of Kilmore, two of Clogher and one of Derry. Edward O’Reilly wrote a pioneer Irish-English dictionary in 1817. Myles O’Reilly M.P. (1825-1880) commanded the Irish Brigade in the service of the Papacy.
In the Irish army of King James 11 Colonel Edmond O’Reilly’s regiment had thirty-three officers and Colonel Mahon’s regiment sixteen officers called Reilly or O’Reilly.Count Don Alexander O’Reilly (d. 1797) became governor of Louisiana in America.
O’Rahilly, which is O Raithile in Irish, is often confused with O’Reilly. It is a Munster name nowadays and is found mainly in Kerry. Their most famous personage was Egan O’Rahiilly (1670-1726) regarded by many as the greatest poet writing in Irish.
Coat of Arms
(O)Reilly
Where the Family Lived (Blue Area)
Addresses for More Information
Ireland
Centre for Irish Genealogical and Local Studies, Carraig, Cliff Road, Windgates, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. (Sean Murphy, MA, Director)
General Register Office, 8-11 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 671 1000
Website http://www.doh.ie/manual/chap4/gere.htm
National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 478 3711
National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 603 0200
Website www.heanet.ie/natlib
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 66 Balmoral Street, Belfast BT9 6NYY, Northern Ireland
Telephone (01232) 251319.
Website http://proni.nics.gov.uk/index.htm
University College Dublin, Adult Education Office, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Website http://www.ucd.ie/delltti
Britain
Family Records Centre, London, England.
Website http://pro.gov.uk/about/frc/default.htm
Public Records Office, Kew, Surrey, England.
Website http://www.pro.gov.uk
General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Website http://www.open.gov.uk/index.html
National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales.
Website http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.htm
North America
Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, Family History Information, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Website http://lds.org/en/ 2 how do I begin/0- how do I begin.html
Family Tree Maker’s Genealogy Site
Website http://www.familytreemaker.com/index.html
The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA), P.O. Box 619 Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.
Website http://tiari.ie
Irish Genealogical Society International, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Website http://www.rootsweb.com irish/index.html
New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston Massachusetts, USA.
Website http://nehgs.org/main-01.htm
Australasia
Genealogical Society of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Website http://www.alphalink.com/au/esv
National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Website http://www.aa.gov.au/AA_WWW/AA_Home_Page.html
National Archives of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Website http://www.archives.dia.gov.nz
List of Links
Cyndi’s List of Genealogical Sites on the Internet: Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Website http://www.cyndilist.com/ireland.htm
UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service.
Website http://www.genuki.org.uk
Copyright © 1998 by A. MacDarragh Burke, MD
All Rights Reserved.