Folan (Irish: Ó Cualáin or Ó Culáin), is an Irish family name. They were a Brehon family in County Galway. The Folan family are of Conmhaícne origin.
Distribution
The surname Folan is most numerous in County Galway, particularly in the area between Galway City and Clifden, in Connacht, Ireland.[1] In the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht of Galway the Irish language Gaelic spelling Ó Cualáin is frequently used.
History
16th Century Brehon Family
There was a Brehon family called O'Folan in County Galway in the sixteenth century.[2]
Servreagh O'Folan, Gentleman, signed a fiant in 1585, called "Indentures of Composition, The Country of the O'Flaherty's of Eyre Connacht, A.D. 1585", which referenced him as a landowner in Moyrus in the Barony of Ballynahinch, County Galway.[3]
Nehemias Folan of the Newtone, Gentleman, was listed as a landowner in Loughrea, County Galway, in a fiant dated 1585. In a fiant dated 1594 he is described in Latin as "in Christo Nehemian Ffolan, generosum, meum attornatum".[3] In a 1615 trial concerning Sir Roger O'Shaughnessy in Loughrea, he was noted as "Nehemias Folan, of Balladowgan, County Galway, Esquire, 60 years old".[4]
Soyrbrehagh Og Folan, in an indenture dated May 1606, is noted as "Soyrbrehagh Og Folan of Ierconnaght in the Co. of Galway, atornie for seisin".[5][6]
Feargananim Folan, in a deed for the O'Flahertys in 1614, entitled "Donogh McMoyler et al., is dede A.D. 1614", is described as "our true and lawfull attorney", and signs as Forinan Folan.[3]
Lands confiscated in 1651
Several O'Folans are mentioned in Elizabethan era fiants as being pardoned for rebel activities.
In fiants dated 1590, "Sirwrehagh Folain,of Moiris, Gentleman, Nehemiah Folain of Moyris, Boetius Folain, Mackragh Folain, Fernand Folain and Connor McSerally of Moyris", and "Nehenas Folone of Newtown, Co Galway", were all given Royal Pardons.[7]
Ferdinando Follin, (Feargananim Folan), of Moyrus, Carna, County Galway, was registered as owner of lands consisting of 3,678 acres (14.88 km2), and 193 acres (0.78 km2). Following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1651, his lands were confiscated.[9]
Tony Folan was an Irish footballer during the 1990s and 2000s. He represented Ireland at every level up to Under-21 and "B".
Lilias Folan, Cincinnati, Ohio, was a yoga pioneer in the US, and hosted the PBS television show Lilias, Yoga and You. The show was carried on the US TV Station PBS from 1972 until 1992. Named one of Yoga Journals 4 most influential figures in American Yoga over the past 100 years she is often referred to as "The First lady of Yoga" or "The Julia Child of Yoga". She still teaches in the USA.[15][16]
Seán Ó Cualáin and Eamonn Ó Cualáin are brothers and award-winning documentary producers and directors, they directed the award winning documentary Men at Lunch about an iconic photograph of construction workers on a New York skyscraper taken in 1932.[17][18][19]
Patrick Folan was killed in action in the Gallipoli Campaign on 27 August 1915, his brother John Folan was Killed in Action in France in 1918, and Joseph Folan died in Mesopotamia in 1918. All were serving with the Connaught Rangers during World War I.[27]
Peter Folan died while serving with the Royal Navy in 1919.[27]
Joseph Folan was killed in action during World War II, while serving with the Royal Artillery in Malaysia, in April 1945.[28]
Bartholomew Folan, serving with the B Co, 16th Inf Regiment. NH died from disease at New Orleans, LA on 7 June 1863. during the American Civil War.[30]
Patrick Folan, Carna, Galway, was one of four members of the West Connemara Brigade of the IRA who were drowned on their way to a Brigade Battalion Meeting in Roundstone, Galway on 6 February 1920 during the Irish War of Independence .[33][34]
James Folan, Woodquay, Galway, was the Battalion Quarter-master of the Galway Brigade of the IRA during the Irish War of Independence.[35]
Other people with the surname in history
Dermot Folan was vicar of Moycullen and Kilcummin in 1628.[36]
^"The Surnames of Ireland" Edward Mac Lysaght, Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1985
^ abc"A History of West or H-Iar Connacht" Roderick O'Flaherty, Irish Archeological Society, Dublin, 1846
^The Tribes, Customs and Genealogies of the Hy Fiachrach. John O'Donovan, Irish Archaeological society, Dublin, 1844
^The Lynch Blosse Papers. K. W. Nicholls Analecta Hibernica, Page 161, The Irish Manuscripts Commission Ltd, 1980
^K. W. Nicholls (1980). "The Lynch Blosse Papers". Analecta Hibernica (29). The Irish Manuscripts Commission Ltd.: 113, 115–218. JSTOR25511960.
^The Sixteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records of Ireland,Calendar of Fiants of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth 1586–95, Alex Thom., Dublin, 1884
^Deposition of Salamon Folan, 1641 Depositions Project, MS 830 281r, Trinity College, Dublin, 1653
This page lists people with the surnameFolan. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.
