Jan wrote (among others!) that: I am told by my relative that to spell Kelley with just the 'y', indicates that the bearer of the name was an Irish Catholic, and that the 'ey' ending indicates that he/she was a Protestant Irishman, and no self-respecting protestant Kelley would allow the name to be spelled with just the Y. As you can see by the email address, I am an O'Kelley, and my husband has told me the same story, only he said that the O'KELLY spelling signified that the person was Northern Ireland Catholic, and O'KELLEY signified that the person was Southern Ireland Protestant. (Of course, that could be because, being a born and bred "Southerner", he would never admit to the spelling of his name being ANYTHING but from the South, no matter what the country! ) :o) I think, more probably, that it was just spelled however whoever had the pencil spelled it! Does anyone out there have any definitive "proof" of why the spellings differ? On the Genforum website, the only one you can pull up is spelled O'Kelly, without the extra "e", although both spellings are listed once you get there. I'm descended from Dorcas Kelly of Campbell County, Virginia, and I am also unsure how that name was spelled...I've seen it spelled both ways. By the way, she was the first wife of Henry Hines, Sr., also of Campbell County, Va. Any information or ideas gladly accepted and appreciated. Tillie Smith O'Kelley