Ó Siadhail / uaSiadhail / uaSiadgail is a Gaelic-Irish surname.
Overview
There were at least three families of this name in Gaelic Ireland.
- Ó Siadhail of Ui Maine, now east County Galway.
- Ó Siadhail of Uí Failghe, now County Offaly and County Laois.
- Ó Siadhail of Tír Chonaill, now County Donegal.
Little is recorded of the Ui Maine family. Those of Uí Failghe and Tír Chonaill were ollamhs of medicine, hereditary physicians to the ruling families in the respectives kingdoms and environs. It is not clear if the two were branches of the one family, or unrelated families who happened to bear the same surname.
Current forms
The surname is now generally anglicised as O'Shiel, Shiel, Sheil, Sheils, Sheals, Sheal, and Sheilds (or Shiels, Shields as well as O’Shields), but the original form, Ó Siadhail, is used by persons who are Gaelic and conscious of their genealogy.
Notable bearers
Notable people named Ó Siadhail or one of its variants include:
- Eoghan Carrach Ó Siadhail, poet, fl. c. 1500–1550
- Séamus Ó Siaghail, c. 1600 – 1655
- Michael Shiell, c. 1663 – 1700
- James Shields, 1806–1879
- Micheal O'Siadhail, poet, born 1947
- Kevin Shields, 1963 –
- Brooke Shields, 1965 –
- Jimi Shields, 1967 –
- Seán Ó Siadhail, 1950–2006
See also
References
- Medicine and Medical Doctors, Chapter XIV, A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland, Patrick Weston Joyce, 1906.