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There are multitude of rich histories underlying the many Irish surnames in use today. The name Mulkey originally appeared in Gaelic as Ó Maolchathaigh, which means "a descendant of a devotee of St. Cathach." The surname is not, as is often believed, derived from "cathach," meaning "warlike."
The surname Mulkey was first found in County Tipperary (Irish: Thiobraid Árann), established in the 13th century in South-central Ireland, in the province of Munster. 1 They claim descendancy from the Moores, hence the same shield. "John, a younger brother or Roger Caoch who is No. 114 on the 'Moore' pedigree, was the ancestor of Mulcahy." The author continues with a footnote, "From a similarity in the pronunciation of the names, some were of opinion the Maolcaich, who is mentioned in the Stowe Missal, might have been the ancestor of the family. " 2 From these early beginnings, two additional branches were established in Ardpaddeen and in Kilkenny. Of this latter branch, "the ancient fort or rath in the parish of Castleconor, County Sligo known as Rath Maoilcatha, has suggested the idea that this family may have derived their name from the Maolcatha after whom the rath is called; and therefore that they are descended from the royal stock from which branched the O'Connors, Kings of Connaught." 2
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Mulkey research. Another 102 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Mulkey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Pronunciation, rather than spelling, was what guided scribes and church officials in recording names, a practice that often led to the misleading result of one person's name being recorded under several different spellings. Numerous spelling variations of the surname Mulkey are preserved in documents that were examined for evidence of the family's history. The various spellings of Mulkey included Mulcahey, O'Mulcahey, Mulcahy, O'Mulcahy, Mulcahee, Mulkey, McMulkey and many more.
More information is included under the topic Early Mulkey Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the United States, the name Mulkey is the 4,510th most popular surname with an estimated 7,461 people with that name. 3
Often leaving from racial discrimination and colonial oppression, thousands of families left Ireland in the 19th century for North America aboard passenger ships. Many early immigrants found a plot of land to call their own, something unimaginable for most Irish families. Those that arrived later were often accommodated as laborers since there was a large demand for cheap labor. This was the fate for many of the families that arrived in North America during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Whether they became agrarian settlers or industrial workers, the Irish that came to North America were invaluable for rapid development of the infant nations of the United States and Canada. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Irish name Mulkey or a variant listed above: