Patrick Reilly          (0) Comments

Patrick stems from the Roman name Patricius meaning "Noble" in Latin.

Patrick has only been a given name of children since 1700.  Before that, it was considered too sacred because of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland and the first successful Christian missionary on the island.  Children instead were given Gilla Patraic "servant of Patrick" or Mael Patraic "devotee of Patrick".

Reilly means "Valiant".  It's Gaelic equivalent is "ó Raghallaigh".  Over the generations, our O' was gradually dropped.

My Great Grandmother was from County Armaugh in Ireland, although many of the Reilly's are primarily from Cavan, Cork, Longford, and Meath.  They are descendants of the O Conor kings of Connacht.

The O'Reillys were for centuries the ruling family of the kingdom of East Breffny, and at their height controlled most of County Cavan and large parts of County Meath.  The family was widely involved in trade in medieval Ireland and at one time 'reilly' was a term for Irish money, subsequently banned by the English.  It has widely been suggested that they lived quite well, as the phrase 'The Life of Reilly' indicates.

Since I'm Irish and from Cape Breton, I have an Irish Caper Mantra of unknown origin.  Also check out some pictures from back in tha day of a Young Reilly.

Reilly family coat of arms

(Also O'Reilly, O'Rahilly, and O Raghailligh)