Special Feature brought to you by ARALTAS.COM Ó Maoileoin,
literally grandson (or descendant) of the follower of John
(possibly Saint John), is the original Irish form of this name
and though originally anglicised as O Malone, we have here a
name which is never found with its Gaelic prefix, the form
Malone being the exclusive modern form of the name. The sept is
a branch of the royal O Connors of Connacht who derive their
name from Conchobhar (died 971), King of Connacht. The original
Maoileoin from whom the clan takes its name was said to be a
nephew of Roderic O Connor, the last Celtic monarch of Ireland.
The main family of Malone was for centuries associated with the
Abbey of Clonmacnoise, to which they furnished many abbots and
bishops, for Clonmacnoise was for a time an independent See
before being united with Ardagh. In the early Middle Ages,
Clonmacnoise was the great centre of Christian scholarship by
the River Shannon, south of Athlone. (Rev. Professor John Ryan,
S.J. suggests that the alleged close