From Ó Conaill, ‘strong as a wolf’ — a Kerry and Clare name, later carried by Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator.
Gaelic Origin · Root name Conall
O'Connell comes from Conall, built on cú (‘hound’ or, by extension, ‘wolf’) and read as ‘strong as a wolf’. Rooted in Kerry and Clare, the name reached its widest fame through Daniel O'Connell, the nineteenth-century campaigner known simply as the Liberator.
A name that went from a Kerry sept to the man who won Catholic Emancipation — proof a single family can still change a country's course.
Irish form: Ó Conaill
