The McConleys of Appin

[Rob Livingston2]

Suspicious about the resemblence of the surnames McOnlea and McConley (the latter is found mostly in Ireland and America), our Livingston/MacLea DNA Project solicited the participation of men bearing that name.  One such person was found, and his y-DNA signature suggests origins in Scandinavia, or so-called "Viking blood".  Most McConleys in America have been able to trace their heritage back to a Daniel McConley who is thought to have immigrated sometime between 1770 and 1790.  But they had always hit the proverbial "genealogical brick wall" when attempting to cross the water to find Daniel's origins.  Further research by our Project participant led him to a distant cousin who possessed a McConley family Bible.  This Bible had an inscription at the front identifying the family as being native to Appin, Argyll. Since birth records for Appin only survive from 1762 onward, we will not likely be able to tie this McConley family to any particular ancestor using traditional documented resources.  But y-DNA testing will someday surely lead us to others of this bloodline who might bear the surname Livingstone rather than McConley.  It should be noted that the family pronounces their name "mc - CON - lee".  It is very likely that families bearing the surname "Conley" will also fall into this bloodline.  It was common practice to drop the "mac" from a name, but to leave the "c" which didn't really belong there in the first place.

[Rob Livingston2]

I was explaining to Mark McConley the technicalities of how the pronunciation of "MacDhonnshleibhe" is reduced to "McOnlea", and I thought it worth repeating here on the forum.  I've also included some thoughts on the meaning of "Donn Sleibhe". In most Scots-Gaelic surnames involving "mac" (son), the personal name following it is greatly altered, with many of the sounds mutating.  This is because the name (or description of the person's occupation) is presented in the "genitive" (possessive) case; in other words, "of John" or "of the blacksmith".  So, "Donn Sleibhe" (properly pronounced "don SLAY-va", but usually pronounced "DON slave" or "DOON slave") goes through several mutations to become the genitive, "of Donn Sleibhe". The first is that the "D" sound changes to a "y" sound, and this is conveyed to the reader by inserting an "h" after the "D" (Dh).  The second mutation is with the "o", which can remain as is or mutate to "ui", pronounced "oo".  Next, the "s" becomes aspirated (an expulsion of air around the sides of the tongue, which is held up against the roof of the mouth) producing an "h" sound.  If reading or writing modern Gaelic, this will show up as "sh".  Next, the "bh" (anything with an "h" following it is called a "fricative"), which normally sounds like a "v", disappears entirely.  The final "e" is normally pronounced like "ah", but for some reason most regional dialects drop it or change it to "ee".  So in the end, the nominative "DON slave" changes to the genitive "YON-lay" or "YOON-lay.  Sometimes the "nn" in "Donn" is inaudible, so we'll notice surnames in the records such as "McColeif", "M'Collea", "McKollie", "McOlea", "McAllea".  Black notes that these are found mostly in the parish of Inveravon (Glenlivet), but they are also found in Lorn, the Isle of Harris, and Inverness. A note: There is no "h" in the Gaelic alphabet, but it is used to help modern readers know that a letter's sound has mutated.  So you will never find an "sh" or a "dh" in an old manuscript. So why isn't there a "y" sound in "MacOnlea"? And what happened to the aspirated "h" sound where there was an "s"?  In Scotland, and less frequently in Ireland, the first consonant after "mac" is not pronounced.  This is called "lenition".  So "mak-DON-al" (MacDhomhnaill or MacDonald) drops out the "D" and becomes "mak-CON-al".  "mak-DOO-gal" (MacDhubhgal or MacDougall) becomes "ma-COO-al". The aspirated "h" (sh) in "MacDhonnshleibhe" and "MacShleibhe" is present, it's just that most English-speaking people usually don't hear it.  Mark McConley tells me that people writing his name often get confused because they hear an aspirated "h" when he pronounces the name without thinking too hard about it, and write it "McConally".  And his family has retained that pronunciation after five generations of being in the U.S. even though the name is spelled without an "a".  The same thing occurs with Gaelic-speakers on the Isle of Harris, where the MacLea's (MacShleibhe) are refered to as "mak-ah-LAY". The stress or accent in Gaelic words is almost always placed on the penultimate (second to last) syllable.  "Mac" (son) is considered a separate word, so it's syllable in a surname does not affect where you put the stress.  Of course, there will always be exceptions. Another question that arises is, do you pronounce it "mak-ON-lay" or "mak-ON-lee", "mak-LAY" or "mak-LEE"?  This is a matter of who is saying it, where, and how it is heard by the Gaelic-ignorant ear.  It's going to vary for town to town, region to region, country to country.  It can even be pronounced "mak-lye" to rhyme with "eye". As to the meaning of "MacDhonnshleibhe", most people, including George Black who wrote the book, "Surnames of Scotland" translate "MacDhonnshliebhe" as "son of Brown of the mountain" (donn = brown, sleibhe = mountain).  The only problem with this is that if the element "sleibhe" is in the genitive case ("of" the mountain), the personal name should be pronounced "don-LAY-va", not "don-SLAY-va" with an "s".  And all indications from old manuscripts indicate that the "s" is very definitely pronounced.  So I have looked for an alternative translation. "Donn" (in old Irish, "duin", pronounced "doon") has other meanings besides "brown". Dennis King, a Gaelic scholar shared the following with me.  "Examples found tucked into proper names include "Donn Bo", "Donngal", "Donnchadh", "Donnacan", "Donn Cuan", etc.  The element(s) "dunno-/donno-" are found all the way back in Gaulish personal names.  Delamarre assigns them separate entries:  donno- 'noble' & dunno- 'brown'.  LEIA reports that other scholars (K.-H. Schmidt, Ellis Evans)do not separate them.  One theory is that OI "donn = chief, ruler, noble, lord" and "donn = brown" were originally the very same word, just as "r

[Andrew Lancaster4]

I hope Rob and Niall will not mind me linking the wikipedia article to this entry by Rob. I take my e-hat off to him! For those who are not aware anyone who does not like something in a wikipedia article can change it. see www.wikipedia.org and search Clan MacLea. Regards Andrew

[Grant South1]

Hello Robert, Enjoyed your posting, very informative! Could you outline the evolution of Gaelic sounds to get the contracted surname Clee. I have some evidence that Clee and Clea were recorded in Donegal for the same family group. All the best!

[Grant South1]

I will attempt to answer my question. I've been searching through Woulfe''s Irish Names and found that MacAlea, MacAlee and MacConloy, as well as others are all forms of MacDuinnsleibe. I can see how MacAlee became Clee, via the same process Rob has outlined above. I also notice that in the Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford Uni Press, that Clee is given as a possible variant of McClay. That would seem to clear that question up. Going back to Woulfe, he further

[Bachuil]

It seems to me that we have identified two possibilities as to our eponymic ancestor: 1. Dunshleibe Ua Anradhan 2. Dunshleibe Ua Eochadha Dunshleibe Ua Anradhan The conventional view is that our eponymic ancestor was Dunsleve, the son of Aedh Alain who was the son of Aedh Anradhan (Anrothan), the O

[Grant South1]

Dear Young Bachuil, Here then is an interesting result for comparison. There is now a Sweeney family line whom I believe is a 11/12 match. http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/s ... sults.html

[Grant South1]

Where is Charles Ross when the Sweeney's are mentioned???

[Grant South1]

Also how do these O'Neill's compare? I think a common origin may be shared with some! http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Neal%2D2/ All the very best!

[James Buchanan]

Very interesting to read. I match Mr MacConley on 24/25 and I had predicted that this haplotype is from North Argyll area, as I have