Re: Michael Hawley and Kate English of Aughavanlomaun, County Tipperary near Newcastle Dear Michael: As noted, Hawley is an extremely unusual Irish name. It's not even mentioned in MacLysaght, Woulfe, de Breffney, etc. You noted accurately that to get close to finding it at all, we have to go to MacLysaght's entry about (O) Hall(e)y, in which he states: "This is of dual origin: it is Ó hAilche in Cos. Waterford and Tipperary (where some Halleys are, however, really Mulhalls); and Ó hAille, a small Clare sept, whence Ballyally near Ennis." So Halley is actually of 3 possible origins rather than 2. And of all those names, the only one which has the aw sound of Hawley is Mulhall. I hate to send you in a different direction, but I have to suggest that without further information Mulhall (Ó Maol Chathail) is as likely an origin as Ó hAilche. However, you may have that needed information. You wrote: "Dan Hawley of Newcastle, County Tipperary has advised me that he believes that the O'Ailche sept originated in southern Tipperary near the present location of Newcastle where many Halley families now live, based on the fact that Geoffrey Keating grew up just west of Newcastle and supposedly was of the opinion that the location of the O'hAilche sept was in that area. This I have not been able to confirm." If that's so, then that would be the case crack. Because Seathrún Céitinn (known in English by the silly name of Geoffrey Keating) would have also noted the genealogy. But I'm looking at Céitinn's Geinealaigh ('Genealogies') now and can't find any reference to Ó hAilche or even just Ailche. I could easily be missing it, so this is where it would be great for Dan Hawley to hand off a reference or photocopy of the page he's citing. Now, here's an idea which might support Dan's statement. Aughavanlomaun is in the barony of Iffa and Offa West, in the south of Co. Tipperary. This barony is about 15-20 miles from the eastern border of the barony of East Muskerry, Co. Cork, named after the tribe of Múscraighe. Ailche and its apparent variants are especially noted in the genealogies as associated with the Ciarraighe (who gave their name to Co. Kerry) and the Múscraighe. If Dan's right, maybe we're dealing with a migration of a branch of the Múscraighe into south Tipperary. Anyway, I think Dan's the key right now. Best, - Jerry