Ó Cléirigh

Ó Cléirigh
Family name
Meaning	clerk, scribe
Region of origin	Ireland
Language(s) of origin	Irish
Related names	Schreiber, Schrieber, Scriver, Schriver, Schriever, Schriewer, Schriefer, Schrijver, Schreber; Scrivener, Shriver; Deák; Clerc, LeClerc, Clark, Clarke (Clarke), Clarck, Clerck, Klerk, Klerck; Sofer

Ó Cléirigh is the surname of a learned Irish family whose members appear in historical records dating to the mid-Medieval Period. In the centuries prior to the historical era, they had been rulers of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne, a kingdom in what is now the south of County Galway, but were subsequently expelled by their cousins, the Clan Ó Seachnasaigh (O'Shaughnessy). From the early 11th or 12th century, they were based in Tír Chonaill, located in modern-day County Donegal, where they served as poet-historians, scribes and secretaries to the O'Donnell dynasty of Tyrconnell. Notable members of the clan included:

• Mac Comhaltan Ua Cleirigh, King of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne, fl. 964.
• Lughaidh Ó Cléirigh (fl. 1595–1630)
• Mícheál Ó Cléirigh (ca. 1590–1643), considered the chief author of the chronicle of medieval Irish history known as the Annals of the Four Masters.
• Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh (died 1664)

References

• Oxford Concise Companion to Irish Literature, Robert Walsh, 1996. ISBN 0-19-280080-9
• Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, His Associates and St Anthony's College Louvain, Nollaig Ó Muraíle (editor), Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84682-082-3

External links

• Ó Cléirigh ancestor search at Irish Times