757 Global MULGREW Family Members

MULGREW Family History

This very interesting surname is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic "O'Maolchraoibhe", descendant of Maolchraoibhe, a male given name having two distinct possible interpretations. Firstly, "maol" may derive from the pagan Irish "mal", chief, related to the Welsh "mail", hero, with "craobh", branch (in the sense of "sept" or subdivision of a clan); hence, "chief of the branch". Alternatively, the initial element may be the Old Gaelic "maol", literally meaning "bald, tonsured", but used here in the transferred sense of "devotee", with the saint's name Craobh; thus, "devotee of (St.) Craobh". Initially, "O'Maolchraoibhe" was Anglicized as "O'Mulcreevy", which is phonetically more approximate to the original Irish than the later forms "O'Mulcrew, O'Mulgrue" and "Mulgrew", all of which arose in the Ulster county of Tyrone...