Special Feature brought to you by ARALTAS.COM

There are two Irish language versions of this name Ó Faircheallaigh, meaning “extremely warlike”, and Ó Fearghaile, meaning “man of valour”. The name is normally anglicised as Farrelly or O Farrelly, but has some lesser-known variants including Ferrally, Farily, Fariley and variations thereon. In parts of Ulster Farley is used as a synonym of Farrelly, which leads to confusion since Farley is also a common English name. As recently as 1900, Farley and Farrelly were regularly used interchangeably in parts of Cavan. Farrelly has also suffered, to some extent, from the tendency for some Irish names to be absorbed into more common similar sounding names, in this case Farrell or O'Farrell, which in Irish is Ó Fearghail, a name which originated in Longford.

Farrelly is a sept of Breffny, which roughly covers the modern county of Cavan along with most of west Leitrim. Their ancient territory was in the barony of Loughter Lower in north Cavan. In Keating's History the O'Farrellys were cited as a numerous clan, particularly in the parish of Mullagh, in Co. Cavan. The name is also found in county Meath. The O'Farrelly sept seated at Knockainy, county Limerick, mentioned as such by O'Heerin in his fourteenth century “Topographical Poem” and still numerous in Co. Limerick when the 1659 census was compiled are no longer to be found there. Of this family Woulfe comments “there was a family of this name in the neighbourhood of Duntryleague in the east of county Limerick, but is has long since disappeared from that district and is probably extinct”. Even a century ago O'Donovan commented on the fact that they had disappeared. The 1890 birth index records some 69 births of the Farrelly name, mainly in Cavan, Meath and Dublin. In modern times, the name is still principally found in their primary ancient territory in Cavan, where over half of all Irish people of the name are to be found.

By the eleventh century, in the average church, the abbot, generally known as the “comharba” (anglicised as “coarb” and meaning “heir”), of the saintly founder, or, if it were not the saint's principal establishment, the “airchinnech” (anglicised as “erenagh” and meaning “head”), had become a lay lord, whose family held the office and the church property from generation to generation. In some cases, apparently, all trace of a church establishment had disappeared, except that the incumbent claimed for his lands the “termonn” of the ancient monastery, those privileges and exemptions which had from old been accorded to ecclesiastical property. But generally the coarb or enenagh maintained a priest. The leading family of the Farrelly sept were erenaghs of Drumlane, county Cavan, which later became an Augustinian priory. They were also coarbs of Saint Mogue until the suppression of the monasteries in the sixteenth century.

The Gaelic poet Feardorcha O'Farrelly (died 1746) was born in Co. Cavan.

At least two famous people of the name Farley, were originally of Irish Farrelly stock.

James Lewis Farley, 1831-85, the traveller and writer, was of Cavan parentage.

John Murphy Farley was born April 20, 1847 in Newton-Hamilton in county Armagh, Ireland. He was educated in St. MacCartan's College, Monaghan, Ireland, St, John's College, Fordham, New York, United States, St. Joseph's Seminary, Troy, New York and Pontifical Urbanian Atherlaeum "De Propaganda Fide," Rome. He was ordained on June 11, 1870 in Rome and assigned to pastoral work in the archdiocese of New York. He was elected titular bishop of Zeugma and appointed auxiliary of New York in November 1895. He was promoted to the metropolitan see of New York in 1902 and created cardinal in 1911, receiving his red hat and title of S. Maria sopra Minerva, November 30, 1911. Cardinal Farley died on September 17, 1918 and is buried in the metropolitan cathedral, New York.

Heraldry

The heraldry of the Irish family of Farrelly can be difficult. There are no direct records of a sept coat of arms and confusion with the English Farley families can give rise to inaccuracies. There are several publications which mistakenly ascribe the arms of this English family to the Farrellys or Farleys of Ireland. There are, however, two coats of arms which are of significance.

1. Arms: Per pale Or and ermine a cross crosslet Gules, on a chief dancettee of the last a lamb passant proper. Crest: On a mount Vert before a cross calvary Gules a lamb passant proper. Motto: tollit peccata mundi (he takes away the sins of the world). The obvious religious symbolism of these arms is compatible with the coarb and erenagh status of the Farrelly sept of Cavan.

2. Arms: Sable three bezants (recorded under the spelling Fariley with no further details).