Online, I use the original Gaelic translations of my two family names, O'Smolláin and MacDhádhoc, with the first name being my mother's family, and the second name being my father's family .... By combining & using "Donna O'Smolláin-MacDhádhoc", I can retain a bit of my anonymity while still honoring my family and their names ! .... I would like to also share a brief history of those two family names, and why their Celtic origins are so special to me.

According to my research, the O'Smolláin family originated in County Mayo, Ireland, with the gaelic names "O'Mailláin" or "O'Maillen" being a part of them .... Our own family history reveals a feud between two factions of the O'Mailláins, with one faction splitting off and adding an "S" to the Mailláin, an "a" was changed to an "o", and thus creating "O'Smolláin" .... This version was later anglicanized by the English to the name my mother's family uses to this day, which is very similar to the anglicanized "O'Malley" .... The O'Smolláins later migrated to southern parts of the United States, including North & South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama, and by the middle 1800's, my maternal family line was well-established in America .... The O'Smolláins are practical people, business men & women who believe in hard work, treating others with respect and dignity, always finishing a job started .... They are honest, good-natured, proud, and intelligent .... I love my mother's family, and I have learned much from them over the years.

Family crests courtesy of Irish Nation.


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