Ó hÉilidhe

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Ó hÉILIDHE, Ó hÉILIGHE—O Healie, O Healy, O Hely, Healy, Hely, &c.; 'descendant of Ealadhach' (scientific, ingenious); sometimes pronounced Ó hEalaidhe (or Ó hEaladhaigh) and Ó hEilidhe; the name of a Sligo family who formerly possessed the Curlews, Ballinafad, and the district lying around the western shore of Lough Arrow, and had their chief residence at Baile Uí Éilidhe, anglicised Ballyhely, in the present demesne of Hollybrooke. The O'Helys ranked among the gentry of Co. Sligo down to the Cromwellian period. The late Most Rev. John Healy, Archbishop of Tuam, was a scion of this ancient family. In the 16th century the name was very widely spread in Connacht and Leinster; and Ó hÉilidhe, it may be remarked, is quite common in Munster. See Ó hÉaluighthe.

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