WebCatt's Genealogy
Origins and Meanings of the Kerley Name
Kerley is the anglicized form of MacFhearghaile, according to
"The Surnames of Ireland" by Edward MacLysaght
Irish Academic Press, c1989, 6th edition, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3Louise M. Kerley says:
"The letter from Joe Kerley interests me mainly because of the addresses scribbled on the back of the envelope. The first address refers to Dondalls Hill - I think this is probably Dowdallshill, Dundalk as my family have been (and still are) in residence there for several generations.
"With regard to the other address, I have seen some local gravestones which date as far back as the mid-eighteenth century indicating the Kerleys were on the Dublin Road (Hill Street is the urban end of the Dublin Road in Dundalk) and later in Dowdallshill. Dowdallshill was once a village in its own right and is now a suburb of Dundalk. The name Dowdall is an Irish family name.
"According to the nuns who taught me in school, my name in Gaelic is Louise Nic Oirealla (pronounced Nic Ur-ila). The priests told my father and brother that their name is Michael Mac Fhearghaile (pronounced Mac Air-ila). Confusing I know, but the two completely different spellings are actually pronounced almost the same way. Insert the Mac or Nic in front of it and there you sort of have the Kerley sound. Nic means 'Daughter Of' - Mac means 'Son Of.' "
WebCatt says:
I've been informally studying Gaelic on my own [particularly Scots Gaelic] for several years now, and have some dictionaries. Here are some dictionary meanings for the elements of this word/name:mac - son, the young of any animal
fearg (feirge; feirg; an fheargh) - anger, wrath, rage, ire
aileadh - mark, impression, trace, scar
àileadh - air, atmosphere; sense of smelling, scent [notice the accent à]Mac of course means "son of" and some loose translations of Fhearghaile [Fheargh-aile] might be "angry scar" or "wrathful air" or possibly "fierce smell" indicating heavy perspiration.
It would be pronounced "mah-kair'-lee" I think, with the "k" sound aspirated like the "ch" in German. But remember, I don't speak Gaelic.
MacThoirdealbhaigh - (Mac) Curley, Kerley, Turley, Terry
[this information came from http://www.goireland.com ]Curley is the usual modern form of this surname. Disregarding the Dublin metropolitan area, in which names from all the provinces are of course found, it is almost entirely confined to Connacht and particularly the counties of Galway and Roscommon. Though it has an English sound Curley is a genuine Gaelic Irish name, the initial C being the last letter of its prefix Mac: in Irish it is MacThoirdealbhaigh and so a variant of Turley - the meaning is simply son of Turlough, hence the use in some places of Terence and Terry as alternative anglicized forms. Terry is a surname found in Munster to-day. In the census of 1659 MacTerlagh and MacTurlogh both appear among the principal Irish names in Co. Limerick, but possibly these were not true surnames. The connexion of Curley with Roscommon is emphasized by the place names Ballymacurley and Curley's Island both in that county. The sept was not particularly prominent in early or medieval times nor do people of the name find a place in the roll of distinguished Irish writers or politicians.
Cairill
from McKerlie's History of ... Galloway:...the first occupation by the Cairills, who obtained possession about the beginning of the twelfth century. Their ancestor was Cairill, an Irish king, or chief, who passed over to Scotland in the tenth century, it is believed, and obtained a grant of lands in Carrick, Ayrshire, which took from him the name of Caroltoun, now Carleton, {see Dailly parish}. The Irish Chronicles inform us of the great power the Cairills at one time possessed in Ireland. They ruled over a large section of that country, several being kings or chiefs, the principal of all having been the chief of Oriel, and Arch King of Argiall, whose territory was the present counties of Monaghan, Louth, &c., Eile or Ely, now called King's, and also the county of Fermanagh, with the Hall and Court of Tara, in Meath, were possessed by the others. Previously the name seems to have been Cairill, as found in the Annals of Tighernac. In "A.D.582, Baidan Mac Cairill Ri Uladh obit." which in English is, "Baidan, son of Cairill, King of Ulster, died."
The constant wars between the various kings or chiefs, which ultimately caused Ireland to fall as a conquered country to England, was at the period we write of, the cause of Cairills settlement in Scotland. He appears to have at once taken an active part against the Norsemen. For these services, the lands which took from him the of Cairilltoun, were granted. We are specially told that besides being particularly instrumental in giving the Danes a notable overthrow, he took Eric, the son of Swain {or Sweyne}, prisoner, and as a reward the king gave him the said lands. In Henry Charteris' copy of Henry the Minstrel's Wallace, published in 1570, it is also stated,
"Keirly in Irish is but Ker Little call'd,
In Carrick he had heritage of ald.
His forbear, which aye worthy was of hand,
St. David King, him brought out of Ireland.
Syne at Dunmoir, where first Norways came in,
This Ker made great discomfiture of their kin,
With seven hundred vanquished nine thousand,
Some drown'd in Doon, some slain upon the land.
Those whole lands the King gave him until,
How Wallace past now further speak I will."These lines, however, embrace two periods; for McCairill obtained the lands in Carrick long previous to the reign of King David the First, but his descendant doubtless got Cruggleton during the lifetime of the good king, when Prince of Cumbria, about the beginning of the twelfth century, and the castle became their residence.
John E. Kerley says:
"The Kerleys appear to have arrived in Ireland from Denmark between 1000 and 1100 A.D., based on the research work of Joe Kerley and the references in his 1929 letter. The Gaelic name MacFhearghaile could have been brought to Ireland with the Kerleys who migrated there from Denmark, and the meaning of the Gaelic name is probably hidden in the Danish language. The Kerleys in England who trace their lineage back to Normandy, NW France, found that Kerley means "Key Holder" in the Norman language.
"My father, Glenn E. Kerley told me, when I was in high school, that I was descendant from the Scott-Irish people - for that is what his father, George Harrison Kerley had told him. That was his answer when I asked him if I was a Jew or a Gentile, and it was a good answer - as I am pretty sure Kerleys are really Levites. Why?
"There are Christian ministers scattered throughout my family lineage. And there are other Kerleys in Tennessee and North Carolina who are also Christian ministers. The families who traveled with the Kerleys in migrations were all Levites I believe, with Kerleys being primarily descendant from Aaron by way of Phinehas, hence Levite Priests. The characteristics of Kerleys match those genetic characteristics of Phinehas - whose actions responsed to "mission statements" from both God, the son of God, and from military Generals and Admirals."
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