Farrell

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 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.

The Farrell family is rooted in Leinster, in Ireland. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in Longford. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

At its greatest historical extent, the Farrell name has been concentrated in Leitrim and Westmeath. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

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

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. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Farrell name took its modern form within that long settlement.

Lords of Annaly, and the family that gave Longford town its name. 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.

The motto of the Farrell family is "Cú re cú agus duine re duine", which translates as "Hound to hound and man to man". Family mottoes were registered with the chief of the name and carried on the heraldic arms and battle-banners.

"Cú re cú agus duine re duine" is the motto of the Farrell family. In English it means "Hound to hound and man to man". The phrase is typically rendered in Latin, though some Highland families carry their motto in Gaelic and some Norman lines in Old French.

The best-known bearer of the Farrell name is Colin Farrell (b. 1976), actor. Other prominent figures of the family include Andy Farrell (b. 1975), Ireland rugby head coach; Grand Slam 2023, Six Nations 2023 and 2024, British and Irish Lions tour 2025, James T. Farrell (1904–1979), Chicago novelist (Studs Lonigan) and James A. Farrell (1862–1943), president of US Steel 1911–1932.

Notable bearers of the Farrell name include Colin Farrell (b. 1976), actor, Andy Farrell (b. 1975), Ireland rugby head coach; Grand Slam 2023, Six Nations 2023 and 2024, British and Irish Lions tour 2025, James T. Farrell (1904–1979), Chicago novelist (Studs Lonigan), James A. Farrell (1862–1943), president of US Steel 1911–1932 and Charles Farrell (1900–1990), American actor, partner of Janet Gaynor in early Hollywood. Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

The Farrell family is associated with Farrell coaches Ireland to the 2023 Grand Slam. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

On the late afternoon of Saturday the eighteenth of March 2023, at the Aviva Stadium on Lansdowne Road in Dublin, in the closing fixture of the 2023 Six Nations Championship in front of a capacity crowd of fifty-one thousand seven hundred and the Saint Patrick's-weekend Irish-and-international television audience, the Republic of Ireland senior rugby union team under the head-coachship of Andy Farrell, forty-seven years old, the Wigan-born former-rugby-league international who had taken the Ireland head-coachship from Joe Schmidt at the end of the 2019 World Cup cycle and had rebuilt the Ireland senior team across the three subsequent seasons, defeated England 29 to 16 in the final round of the Championship to complete the four-from-four Grand Slam: the first Six Nations Grand Slam for Ireland since 2018, the first Grand Slam ever completed by Ireland on home soil at the Aviva, and the consolidation of the Irish position as the world-number-one rugby union team at the close of the 2022-23 season. The Grand Slam was the central single moment of the Farrell coachship of Ireland; he extended the record with the 2024 Six Nations Championship win (Ireland's first back-to-back Six Nations championships in the history of the modern competition), the world-number-one ranking through 2023 and into 2024, and on the strength of the Ireland record was selected as Head Coach of the British and Irish Lions for the 2025 tour to Australia. The event is dated to 2023.

Yes. O'Farrell is a historical spelling variant of the Farrell 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.

Yes. Ó Fearghail is a historical spelling variant of the Farrell 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.

Ireland is the primary historical home of the Farrell 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.

The Clan Rising page for the Farrell 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.

The seat for the head of the Farrell 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.