Rooney Family Crest, Coat of Arms & Rooney Name Origin

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Origin of the Name Rooney

The Rooney family history was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. include O'Rooneen, Rooneen, Ruineen, Runian, Roonian and Roonien. These names are the anglicized forms of the Gaelic O'Ruanaidh Sept name. In modern Ireland this name is seldom if ever found with the prefix 'O' to which it is entitled, since it is O'Ruanaidh in Irish . They were a Sept of Dromore, County Down, and today they are principally to be found in Ulster and the neighbouring County of Leitrim. The O'Rooneys were a literary family. Ceallach O'Rooney who died in 1079, was called Chief Poet of Ireland . Eoin O'Rooney who died in 1376 was Chief Poet to McGuinness of Iveagh. This tradition was maintained by John Jerome Rooney, born 1866, the Irish -American Catholic poet, and by the better known William Rooney, 1873-1901, poet and Gaelic revivalist. There is a place called Rooney's Island in County Donegal which perpetuates this family. Many of the variants of the name Rooney are found in the area lying between Manorhamilton in County Leitrim and Ballyshannon in County Donegal.