McNulty


McNulty is an ancient Gaelic-Irish surname, meaning "son of the Ulsterman". Usually considered a branch of the Ulaid ruling dynasty of Mac Duinnshléibhe who fled Ulaid to Ailech after the former's conquest in 1177 by the Normans, DNA analysis points to descent from other Ulaid families as well. After the Battle of Kinsale in 1602, some McDonlevys and McNultys migrated to the province of Connacht where their name is now common.

Origin

The name is said to have arisen from a branch of the ruling Ulaid dynasty of Mac Duinnshléibhe who had migrated to what is now County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland after John de Courcy's conquest of Ulaid in 1177. Here some of the MacDonlevys were nicknamed Ultagh/Ultach. However, historical records such as the 1659 "Census" as well as Griffith's Valuation show that concentrations of McNultys were found in parts of Ireland where the MacDonlevys had little presence, coupled with DNA analysis showing that the McNultys may actually derive from other Gaelic families that migrated from Ulaid and not just the MacDonlevy's. The names Ultagh/Ultach and Mac an Ultaigh applied to only those that fled Ulaid and was not used for those that remained.
Regardless of their actual origin, the first McNulty to be recorded is found in the Annals of the Four Masters under the year 1281, where an "Murtough Macan-Ulty" is listed as a distinguished fatality at the battle of Desertcreagh in present-day County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
The probable transition of the name Mac an Ultaigh from the Ultagh MacDonlevy's can be seen around 1601 where one "Morris Ultagh" is recorded as "Morris m'Nich Ultagh". The surname prefix "m'Nich" appears to be an English confusion of the female prefix Nic with the male prefix Mac.
Other variant spellings of McNulty include McNaulty, McNalty, and rarely as O'Nalty, Nolty, McNult, McEnulty and McKnulty. and others.
In County Clare and its adjacent County Tipperary in the southwest of the Republic of Ireland, the toponymics Connoulty and Kinoulty are encountered, and are believed to be Anglicisations of Mac an Ultaigh.

Diaspora

By 1980, there were 19,469 persons surnamed McNulty in the United States Social Security Administration data base. The surname McNulty was, then, the 2332 most frequently occurring surname in that database. Some of the first McNulty immigrants to North America arrived in Philadelphia and New York City in the very early 19th century and, later, more numerously, in both Philadelphia and New York City between 1840 and 1860, during which period the great Irish Potato Famine occurred.
There are an estimated 421 persons surnamed McNulty in Australia. Denis McInulty, one of the first McNulty to arrive in Australia, arrived there from Scotland on 16 May 1846 on the prisoner transport the China under a 10-year sentence of the Glasgow Justiciary Court.
In the United Kingdom the surname McNulty is shared by an estimated 7,318 people and is approximately the 1,472th most popular surname in the country.

Notable McNultys

Actors

Found in a single location on the earth's surface, that is McNulty Gulch near Leadville Colorado, McNulty rhyolite is a comparatively rare gem rock quality variety of rhyolite rock. McNulty rhyolite appears in the official U.S. Department of Interior, United States Geological Survey Lexicon of Geological Names of the United States.