Farrell
also O'Farrell, Ó Fearghail
Lords of Annaly — and the family that gave Longford town its name.
CoreHistoric reach
The seat of Farrell
Seat vacantChief
No chief yet. The seat awaits its first claimant — be the first to stake your name to Farrell.
Current mission
No mission proclaimed. The chief, once seated, sets the clan’s public focus — a campaign, a contest, a piece of restoration, a year of remembrance.
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Stake your name →What does the Farrell name mean?
From Ó Fearghail — descendant of Fearghal ('man of valour'). The Ó Fearghail of Annaly (Anghaile) were the chief sept of County Longford from the 13th century to the Tudor confiscation, with their seat at Longphort Uí Fhearghaill — the 'longphort' or fortified residence that gave the modern county town and county its name. Annaly remained a Gaelic lordship under the Ó Fearghail until the dissolution of the lordship by Sir Henry Sidney in 1565 and the Plantation of Longford under James I in 1620.
The history of Farrell
The lordship of Annaly was the territory of the Ó Fearghail, divided in the 13th century between two branches — Ó Fearghail Buí (the Yellow O'Farrell) of the south, with seats at Mostrim and Lanesborough, and Ó Fearghail Bán (the White O'Farrell) of the north, with seats around modern Longford town. Both branches surrendered and re-granted under Henry VIII in 1542 but were broken in the Plantation of Longford under James I in 1620, when the lordship's lands were redistributed to English and Scottish undertakers. The surname remained densest in Longford and adjoining Leitrim through every subsequent census.
Colin Farrell (b. 1976), the Castleknock-born actor of In Bruges, The Banshees of Inisherin and the Penguin, is the most internationally famous modern bearer. James A. Farrell (1862–1943), the Connecticut-Irish steel executive, was president of US Steel from 1911 to 1932 — the longest tenure in the corporation's history. James T. Farrell (1904–1979), the Chicago-Irish novelist of the Studs Lonigan trilogy, was descended from Westmeath emigrants of the 1840s; the Lonigan books are among the foundational works of the American immigrant-Irish novel.
Notable bearers of the Farrell name
- Colin Farrell (b. 1976) — actor
- James T. Farrell (1904–1979) — Chicago novelist (Studs Lonigan)
- James A. Farrell (1862–1943) — president of US Steel 1911–1932
- Charles Farrell (1900–1990) — American actor, partner of Janet Gaynor in early Hollywood