O'Tuathail

This is the O'Tuathail Coat of Arms

Origins

O'Tuathail is an Irish surname commonly found in County Wicklow. There is also an O'Tuathail clan from Kildare, who are now known as O'Toole and Donegal Known as Tolan.

Coat of arms

A note on Irish coats of arms. Unlike English heraldry the Irish did not limit the use of the symbols to just one person. The 'coat of arms' in Ireland was used by the whole extended 'family', although most Irish didn't really see the need for elaborate heraldry so it wasn't actively displayed. Most Irish coats of arms date back to well before English times. Originally each 'clan' would have their colours (for the Tolan clan this is red and silver), on the Tolan coat of arms there is a Lion, as depicted above.

History

Mainly Based in Wicklow the O'Toole Clan raided the nearby British occupied Pale Located around Dublin City. O'Tuathail were a sept that possessed a territory in the southern half of County Kildare. The great O'Tuathail sept. They were driven out after the invasion of 1172 into Imail, in the present County Wicklow. The descendants of the sept took the name Tolan or O'Toole, although the name is now rare without the prefix 'O'. The tradition of surnames in Ireland developed spontaneously, as the population increased and the former practice, first of single names and then of ephemeral patronymics or agnomina of the nickname type proved insufficiently definitive. At first the surname was formed by prefixing 'Mac' to the father's Christian name or 'O 'to that of a grandfather or earlier ancestor.

Notable People From The O'Tuathail Clan

• Lorcán Ua Tuathail also known as St Laurence O'Toole, was born at Castledermot, Kildare, Ireland, in 1128, and died at Eu, Normandy, France, on 14 November 1180; he was canonized in 1225 by Pope Honorius III.

• John Lawrence O'Toole (1832–1906) the comedian, born in London. He went to the City of London School, and in 1853 gave up his desk in a wine merchants to become an actor. He first played at Ipswich and in London at the St. James's Theatre in 1854. In 1874-75 he played in the United States, and in 1890 in Australia. In 1879 he became lessee of the Folly Theatre, which he enlarged, changing the name to 'Toole's Theatre'.

• Peter Seamus O'Toole (born 2 August 1932) is an eight-time Academy Award-nominated Irish actor. He has received three Golden Globes and an Emmy Award. He was awarded an honorary Oscar for his body of work in 2003.

Related Names

The following is a list of names that are related to O'Tuathail. This is not a complete list; there may be other names.

• Tolan
• Toland
• O'Toole
• O'Tool
• Toole
• Tool
• Toil
• Tooley
• Toal
• Toale
• Tohill
• Towle

External links

• http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/tolan-family-crest.htm
• http://www.4crests.com/o-toole-coat-of-arms.html
• http://books.google.com/books?id=30tZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=leinster+towle&source=bl&ots=U36kBL_W-8&sig=vRUVF4Q9WDjA9r5vSH-PvK5gBV8&hl=en&ei=_6yDTKnAHYL98Abu6I3XCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

See also

• Irish name