Melia — The Chieftain's Line

Melia is Ó Máille, the same Irish name that elsewhere became O'Malley, from mál, a word for a prince or a champion, traced further back to the Celtic maglios, ‘chief’. It belongs almost entirely to County Mayo: over eighty-five per cent of recorded births carrying it are in Connacht.

One of the most locally rooted names in Ireland — if you are a Melia, the map has already told you where to look.

Irish form: Ó Máille