O'Carroll

also Carroll, Ó Cearbhaill

Ely O'Carroll, kings of north Tipperary into the Tudor age.

Origin: Leinster, Ireland
Motto: In fide et in bello fortis
Famous bearer: Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832), signer of the American Declaration of Independence
Register: Irish family

Territory of O'Carroll

CoreHistoric reach

The seat of O'Carroll

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the O'Carroll community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.

Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once O'Carroll has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

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Motto

In fide et in bello fortis

“Strong in faith and in war”

What does the O'Carroll name mean?

The history of O'Carroll

Ely O'Carroll was one of the longest-surviving Gaelic kingdoms, a near-independent lordship straddling the modern Tipperary-Offaly border, with its principal stronghold at Birr and the broader territory anchored on the Slieve Bloom mountains. The Ó Cearbhaill held the kingdom under successive nominal Anglo-Norman overlords through the medieval period and were among the last Gaelic kindreds to submit by surrender-and-regrant under Henry VIII, Maolruanaidh O'Carroll formally surrendering Ely in 1552. The Cromwellian and Williamite confiscations broke the lordship in the 17th century but the surname remained densely planted across the original Ely territory.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832), the only Catholic signer of the American Declaration of Independence, and the last surviving signer at his death, descended directly from the Ely O'Carroll line via his great-grandfather Charles Carroll 'the Settler', who emigrated to Maryland in 1688. His cousin Daniel Carroll (1730–1796) signed the United States Constitution; Daniel's brother John Carroll (1735–1815) was the first Roman Catholic bishop of the United States and the founder of Georgetown University. The Carrolls of Maryland are unique in American history as the only Catholic family to produce signers of both founding documents.

Champions of the O'Carroll name

The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has its own page — biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.

Rory O'Carroll
The Crumlin-born Kilmacud Crokes full-back whose seven seasons as the central defender of the Dublin senior football team from 2010 to 2015 anchored the back line that took three All-Ireland Senior Football Championships (2011, 2013 and 2015) and four Leinster Senior Football Championships in the foundation period of the modern Dublin dynasty.

Step Into History

Walk the streets and seats the O'Carroll name knew — a photoreal walk through time, on foot.

Step Into History · New

Walk Rock of Cashel in 1490Enter →

The cathedral citadel of the Kings of Munster, whole and roofed on its rock — round tower, Cormac's Chapel and Gothic cathedral.

Notable bearers of the O'Carroll name

Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832), signer of the American Declaration of Independence
Daniel Carroll (1730–1796), signer of the US Constitution
John Carroll (1735–1815), first Roman Catholic bishop of the United States, founder of Georgetown
Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–1898), mathematician, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Carroll O'Connor (1924–2001), actor (All in the Family)

Stories of O'Carroll

Alice on the Isis
1862
On the afternoon of Friday the fourth of July 1862, on a rowing-boat on the stretch of the Thames known above Oxford as the Isis, between Folly Bridge in central Oxford and Godstow village three miles upstream, the Christ Church Oxford mathematics tutor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (writing under the Latinised pseudonym Lewis Carroll), thirty years old, and his Christ Church colleague the Reverend Robinson Duckworth took out the three Liddell daughters of the Christ Church Dean Henry Liddell, Lorina (thirteen), Alice (ten), and Edith (eight), on a rowing-boat picnic. The river journey took the five up to Godstow for a late-afternoon tea on the bank. On the stretch of the river between Folly Bridge and Godstow (about an hour and a half of rowing), Carroll improvised, by Duckworth's later memoir, a extempore fairy-story for the Liddell girls about a small girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit-hole into a strange country. The Alice in the story is, by Duckworth and by Alice Liddell's 1932 BBC broadcast memoir, openly modelled on the Liddell girl in the boat. At the end of the afternoon, Alice Liddell asked Carroll, on the walk back to Christ Church through the Port Meadow, Mr Dodgson, please write that story down for me. Carroll wrote out the first version of the story over the next six months in a vellum-bound manuscript notebook titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground, gave it to Alice Liddell as a Christmas present in November 1864, and on the encouragement of his publisher friend Alexander Macmillan revised and expanded it into the 1865 Macmillan publication Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The Tenniel-illustrated Alice in Wonderland has been continuously in print in English since 1865, has been translated into one hundred and seventy-three languages, and is, by every careful judgment of the children's-literature historians, the foundational text of the modern English-language children's-fantasy literature.
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Frequently asked

What does the surname O'Carroll mean?

From Ó Cearbhaill, descendant of Cearbhall ('hacking warrior'). Several distinct families took the surname independently in different parts of Ireland; the most powerful were the Ó Cearbhaill of Éile (Ely O'Carroll), the Munster sept who ruled a kingdom of north Tipperary and southern Offaly from the 8th century to the late 16th. Two further unrelated Carroll lines were the Ulster Ó Cearbhaill of Oriel (modern Louth and Monaghan) and a smaller Leinster line in Ossory. Ely O'Carroll was one of the longest-surviving Gaelic kingdoms, a near-independent lordship straddling the modern Tipperary-Offaly border, with its principal stronghold at Birr and the broader territory anchored on the Slieve Bloom mountains.

Where does the O'Carroll family come from?

The O'Carroll family is rooted in Leinster and Munster, in Ireland. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in Offaly and Tipperary. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Where did the O'Carroll family historically hold territory?

At its greatest historical extent, the O'Carroll name has been concentrated in Louth, Kilkenny and Monaghan. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

Is O'Carroll a Ireland surname?

Yes, O'Carroll is a Ireland surname. Its editorial home in this atlas is Ireland, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated.

How old is the O'Carroll surname?

Ely O'Carroll was one of the longest-surviving Gaelic kingdoms, a near-independent lordship straddling the modern Tipperary-Offaly border, with its principal stronghold at Birr and the broader territory anchored on the Slieve Bloom mountains. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the O'Carroll name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the O'Carroll family known for?

Ely O'Carroll, kings of north Tipperary into the Tudor age. Ely O'Carroll was one of the longest-surviving Gaelic kingdoms, a near-independent lordship straddling the modern Tipperary-Offaly border, with its principal stronghold at Birr and the broader territory anchored on the Slieve Bloom mountains.

What is the O'Carroll motto?

The motto of the O'Carroll family is "In fide et in bello fortis", which translates as "Strong in faith and in war". Family mottoes were registered with the chief of the name and carried on the heraldic arms and battle-banners.

What does "In fide et in bello fortis" mean in English?

"In fide et in bello fortis" is the motto of the O'Carroll family. In English it means "Strong in faith and in war". The phrase is typically rendered in Latin, though some Highland families carry their motto in Gaelic and some Norman lines in Old French.

Who is the most famous O'Carroll?

The best-known bearer of the O'Carroll name is Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832), signer of the American Declaration of Independence. Other prominent figures of the family include Daniel Carroll (1730–1796), signer of the US Constitution, John Carroll (1735–1815), first Roman Catholic bishop of the United States, founder of Georgetown and Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–1898), mathematician, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Who are some famous O'Carrolls?

Notable bearers of the O'Carroll name include Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737–1832), signer of the American Declaration of Independence, Daniel Carroll (1730–1796), signer of the US Constitution, John Carroll (1735–1815), first Roman Catholic bishop of the United States, founder of Georgetown, Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832–1898), mathematician, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Carroll O'Connor (1924–2001), actor (All in the Family). Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

What stories are told about the O'Carroll family?

The O'Carroll family is associated with Alice on the Isis. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

What is the story of Alice on the Isis?

On the afternoon of Friday the fourth of July 1862, on a rowing-boat on the stretch of the Thames known above Oxford as the Isis, between Folly Bridge in central Oxford and Godstow village three miles upstream, the Christ Church Oxford mathematics tutor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (writing under the Latinised pseudonym Lewis Carroll), thirty years old, and his Christ Church colleague the Reverend Robinson Duckworth took out the three Liddell daughters of the Christ Church Dean Henry Liddell, Lorina (thirteen), Alice (ten), and Edith (eight), on a rowing-boat picnic. The river journey took the five up to Godstow for a late-afternoon tea on the bank. The event is dated to 1862.

Is Carroll the same family as O'Carroll?

Yes. Carroll is a historical spelling variant of the O'Carroll name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Is Ó Cearbhaill the same family as O'Carroll?

Yes. Ó Cearbhaill is a historical spelling variant of the O'Carroll name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Where is the O'Carroll surname found today?

Ireland is the primary historical home of the O'Carroll surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same Ireland origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the O'Carroll family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the O'Carroll family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, the family motto, famous bearers of the name, traditional stories and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of Ireland so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the O'Carroll family today?

The seat for the head of the O'Carroll family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.