THE HISTORY OF THE IRISH NAME
NOLAN
NOLAN
Nolan, seldom found nowadays with its legitimate prefix O, is the name of a sept of great antiquity which has always been associated with that part of Ireland which lies around the barony of Forth in Co. Carlow (not to be confused with the better known Forth in Co. Wexford). In pre-Norman days their chiefs, who held high hereditary office under the Kings of Leinster, were known as Princes of Poharta (modern Forth). After the invasion, though their power declined, they retained considerable influence.
In the sixteenth century a branch of the Nolans migrated to Connacht and became extensive landowners in Counties Mayo and Galway, in which counties the name is not uncommon to-day. Nolan is among the forty most numerous names in the country as a whole, the great majority of persons so called being found, as might be expected, in Carlow and the adjacent counties. In 1878, however, Connacht landlords named Nolan possessed over 12,000 acres; but there was no extensive landowner of the name in or near Co. Carlow. There was also a small sept of O’ Nuallain belonging to the Corca Laidhe group. (Possibly the Nolans of west Munster to-day stem from them). These, however, for some reason not apparent, were often called O huallachain -thus in Lynch’s De Praesulibus (1672) the two names are treated as interchangeable. In this connection it may be mentioned that, according to Woulfe, O huallachain is anglicized Nolan in north Connacht
In Irish the name is O Nuallain, i.e. descendant of Nuallan. The derivation of the name is obscure. The word nuallan in modern Irish means a shout or cry, but it does not follow that the name comes from that.
In recent centuries few Nolans stand out as being particularly distinguished but several not unimportant persons of the name may be mentioned. Philip Nolan (1771-1801), an Irish emigrant to America, was one of the most notorious frontiersmen and contraband traders of those early days in the West; Most Rev. Edward Nolan (d. 1859), was Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin; two Nolans had some success in the literary field, viz. Rev. Frederick Nolan (1784-1864) as a Protestant theologian and Michael Nolan (d. 1827) as a legal writer; John Philip Nolan (1838-1912), of the Co. Galway Nolans, is remembered not so much as a soldier as for his political career during which he came into conflict with the notorious Judge Keogh and took the part of Parnell at the split of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
In the sixteenth century a branch of the Nolans migrated to Connacht and became extensive landowners in Counties Mayo and Galway, in which counties the name is not uncommon to-day. Nolan is among the forty most numerous names in the country as a whole, the great majority of persons so called being found, as might be expected, in Carlow and the adjacent counties. In 1878, however, Connacht landlords named Nolan possessed over 12,000 acres; but there was no extensive landowner of the name in or near Co. Carlow. There was also a small sept of O’ Nuallain belonging to the Corca Laidhe group. (Possibly the Nolans of west Munster to-day stem from them). These, however, for some reason not apparent, were often called O huallachain -thus in Lynch’s De Praesulibus (1672) the two names are treated as interchangeable. In this connection it may be mentioned that, according to Woulfe, O huallachain is anglicized Nolan in north Connacht
In Irish the name is O Nuallain, i.e. descendant of Nuallan. The derivation of the name is obscure. The word nuallan in modern Irish means a shout or cry, but it does not follow that the name comes from that.
In recent centuries few Nolans stand out as being particularly distinguished but several not unimportant persons of the name may be mentioned. Philip Nolan (1771-1801), an Irish emigrant to America, was one of the most notorious frontiersmen and contraband traders of those early days in the West; Most Rev. Edward Nolan (d. 1859), was Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin; two Nolans had some success in the literary field, viz. Rev. Frederick Nolan (1784-1864) as a Protestant theologian and Michael Nolan (d. 1827) as a legal writer; John Philip Nolan (1838-1912), of the Co. Galway Nolans, is remembered not so much as a soldier as for his political career during which he came into conflict with the notorious Judge Keogh and took the part of Parnell at the split of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
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