The O'Smolláins and the MacDhádhocs

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.

The MacDhádhoc and O'Smolláin family crests

Family crests courtesy of Irish Nation.

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The MacDhádhoc family, according to my research, originally hail from the highlands of Scotland, later migrating down into Ulster, Northern Ireland, and eventually into County Galway, into the ancient province of Connaught .... The "Mac" was later dropped, and the name was anglicanized by the English to the form my family has now used for a few hundred years or so ... This side of the family came not only to the Boston area of the U.S., but also to the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama in the late 18th century and beyond .... The majority of my father's family still resides in Georgia, while he, a brother, and two sisters settled in Alabama .... The MacDhádhocs are the artists, the poets, the musicians, and the creators whose Irish blood flows the strongest through my veins .... I have always identified closely with them, and considering I have their auburn red hair, their piercing eyes, their "giggle", and their temperament (free-spirited, fun-loving, artistic), I am very "MacDhádhoc" in my mannerisms and ways .... If there truly is a "faery people", The Tuatha de Danann, then the MacDhádhocs are of their lineage -- bold, creative, passionate, intelligent, a friend to all furry/fluffy/feathered creatures & children alike, curious, and altruistic .... The people on this side of the family have the "heart of the fey", and I am no exception !

I have always loved both sides of my family -- I have wonderful childhood memories of each of them -- and I am honored to write about them today .... Celtic blood is strong, rich, very powerful, very true to it's roots, and I can't think of any other heritage I would choose to come from other than Irish/Scottish -- Celtic -- blood !

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