Foley Surname

The surname Foley is a fairly common name in Ireland. Recently at the website www.otherdays.com, the following surname search of their records showed the greatest concentration in Cork, Kerry, and Waterford. The Foleys held seats in Waterford since ancient times.

"Griffith's Valuation, a comprehensive listing of those who rented land/property throughout Ireland in the 1850s, records a total of 2407 entries for occupiers named 'Foley'. Of these 581 were found in County Cork and 444 entries in the neighbouring county Kerry. Waterford had a total of 330 and Wexford recorded 173 entries. The western counties had less than one hundred each while there are very few entries for the northern counties." ¹

Foley, the angelicised version of 'foghladha' means plunderer or robber which may imply some viking blood involved. Spelling variations include: Foley, MacSharry, Foaley, Foli, Fooley, Sharry, Sharrie, McSharry, MacSharey, McSharey, Foalie, Foolie, Fowlie but O'Foley never caught on.

Foley's can be found in all fields - Thomas Foley, Speaker of the House; Tim Foley, football star; Clyde Foley, country western star; and James W Foley, Poet laureate of North Dakota, Donal Foley, teacher and writer for the Irish Times; entertainer Red Foley; Actor Dave Foley - just to name a few. Even in professional wrestling there is Mick Foley. There are Foley Inns and a Foley, Alabama. There have even been Foley's in Royalty

Some of the first Foley settlers of the United States include Bryan Foley who purchased land in Virginia in 1714; followed by James Foley in 1770; the Foleys also settled in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

This database is a report on surnames in Ireland, prepared by Robert E. Matheson and published as an appendix of the Twenty-Ninth Annual Report of the Registrar-General for Ireland in 1901.

Foley is list as Number 60 in the popularity of names with 11,200 people claiming that surname.

In the chart of Surnames and Number of Entries in Birth Index for 1800:
KERRY - Sullivan 349, Connor 188, Shea 146, Murphy 95, McCarthy 88, Moriarty 74, Fitzgerald 72, Griffin 58, Connel 56, Brosnan 55, FOLEY 55, Leary 47, Cliffrod 45, Walsh 45, Cronin 43, Lynch 42,Mahoney 38, Daly 34
WATERFORD - Power 125, Waslh 97, O'Brien 47, Murphy 35, Ryan 35, M^cGrath 31, FOLEY 30, ...

Table showing the Surnames in Ireland having Five Entries and upwards in the Birth Indexes of 1890, together with the Number in each Registration Province, and the Registration Countis in which these Names are Principally found.

Foley (249) Ireland 250, Leinster 57, Munster 167, Ulster 7, Connaught 19 - Found primarily in Kerry, Cork, Waterford and Dublin.

Chart of Surnames with Varieties and Synonymes - FOLEY, Fooley, Fooluiah, McSharry, and Sharry

Ireland Gazetteer and Surname Guide - Foley #60, Population 11,200

FOLEY SURNAME HISTORY

References