Maloney
An Irish surname usually understood as meaning “descendant of the servant or disciple of a saintly figure,” from an old Gaelic religious name.
The #1,149 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 10,066 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally traced to Irish Gaelic Ó Maol... (with the exact old form varying in early sources), where Ó means “descendant of,” and maol refers to a servant, devotee, or tonsured follower. In that older religious sense, the name likely meant “descendant of the devotee/disciple of Doimhnach” or a related saintly name. The spelling and interpretation were later simplified in English, producing Maloney and related forms.
History
Maloney is an Anglicized Irish surname, and the old spellings often overlap with Malone and Moloney. Nineteenth-century surname writers grouped it among Irish names built on maol, a common element in devotional or monastic bynames. In the United States it became established through Irish immigration and is now a familiar but moderately uncommon surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes connected Maloney with a saintly or monastic ancestor rather than with a place or trade.
From the historical record
“MALONEY ) (Celt.) for the Irish O'MaoWAowA- MALONY \ naigh {dh and mh mute) = Grandson of the Servant or Disciple OF DoMHNACH [Ir. d or ua, grandson; maol, servant, disciple] MALPAS \ (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Bel. to Mal pas”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)