Irish surname search

(O)Mooney, Meeny, Mainey

This name, O Maonaigh in modern Irish, is derived, according to Professor M. A. O'Brien, from the Old Irish word Moenach meaning dumb. It is a surname adopted by several unrelated septs. The eponymous ancestor of the O'Mooneys of Ulster was Monach, son of Ailioll Mor. His descendants became erenaghs of Shanaghan in the parish of Ardara, diocese of Raphoe. More numerous to-day and better known in history are the Mooneys of Offaly, where they have given their name to the townland of Ballymooney - there is also another townland Ballymooney in the parish adjoining county of Leix. The Mooneys of the parish lemanaghan, near Clara were for centuries the custodians of the shrine of St. Monahan. Thirdly there was a sept of O Maonaigh located in the barony of Tireagh, Co. Sligo. Their present-day representatives are usually called Meeny: four townlands called Ballymeeny in the parish of Easky indicate their territory. Finally, there was the Munster sept of the same name in Irish: the form used there in modern times is Mainey, in accordance phonetically with the Munster pronunciation of Irish. A notable person of the name was Father Donagh Mooney, Provincial of the Irish Franciscans from 1615 to 1618, who was guardian of the young Earls of Tyrconnell and Tyrone at Louvain in 1626. Thomas Mooney (1815-1888), the Dublin man who edited a Fenian newspaper in San Francisco, was in his latter years a very controversial figure in London.