"The "Lúin" was the enchanted spear of the ancient gods of Irish mythology."
High Perl Lynx
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I have also received the following info on our surname. It's excellent
and goes all the way back to origin. It is the Mhuintir Luinigh
website and message board and I would easily recommend it to anyone
serious about Looney origin. You have to apply and it is free.
Mhuintir Lúinígh
The Uí Lúinígh Web Group
The place name "Mhuintir Lúinígh" means "land of the Ui Lúinígh". The
following anglicized family names are known to have been used by
branches of the Uí Lúinígh in Ireland or later in other countries:
Lunney, Lunny and Looney, sometimes prefixed with "Ó", being the most
common, and
de Launay, Laney, Lenagh, Lennagh, Lennan, Lenney, Lennon, Leny,
Leonard, Leynagh, Leyning, Linacre, Linan, Linneen, Linnegar, Linney,
Loney, Loonyne, Luneen, Luney, Lunnay, Lunnie, Lunnye, Lunyn and
Lynegar, sometimes prefixed with "Ó", being less common.
Most Uí Lúinígh today live in Canada, the United States and Australia,
some in England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and a very
few in countries such as Brazil, Belgium, France, Switzerland, the
United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
The Gaelic name "Uí Lúinígh" means "descendant of Lúinech".
"Lúinech" is an ancient Irish name meaning "armed" and "the Lúin, used
as a man's name".
The "Lúin" was the enchanted spear of the ancient gods of Irish
mythology.
The Lúinech after whom we are named, and from whom we are all
descended, was a noble of the Cinel Moen tribe of the Gaelic kingdoms
of Tír Eóghain, Ailech and Magh Ithe. Lúinech was a son of
Gairmlegaigh (Gormley, King of Magh Ithe), the son of Ferdalaigh, the
son of Tendalaigh, the son of Edalaigh, the son of Faelain, the son of
Colmain, the son of Moen, the son of Muiredaigh (King of Ailech), the
son of Eóghain (King of Ailech), the son of Néill Naoighiallaigh
(Niall of the Nine Hostages, King of Tara and High King from 379 to
405 AD). Lúinech was recorded in the genealogies of the Gaels as being
of the 100th generation in descent from the Biblical Adam. [There is a
complete listing of this genealogy in the "Documents" section of this
website.]
Our ancestor King Niall of the Nine Hostages was the founding father
of the Ui Neill dynasty that ruled most of Ireland for the next eight
centuries during Ireland's "Golden Age". King Niall was leading a
united force of Irish, Scots and Brittons in raids against the Romans
in Gaul (France) when he was assassinated in 405. King Niall's son
Eoghain conquered northwestern Ireland and established his own kingdom
and royal seat at the Grianan Ailech west of modern day Londonderry
around 425. The Grianan Ailech is a large stone ring fortress that was
already hundreds of years old by the time it was captured by Eoghain.
[There are several photographs of the Grianan Ailech in the
"Pictures / Clan Photos" section of this website.]
High Perl Lynx
Please use this webgroup to post messages and pictures, family
histories,
and travelogues, so that we can learn more about our world-wide Clan
and its members.
http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.looney/28.256.1.1/mb.ashx
High Perl Lynx
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Reply Translation Forum
Author Message
May 18 2010, 14:59 PM
missmustang
New Arrival
Posts: 2 I had a great great great grandfather who lived in Ireland
and came to Canada his last name was spelled: Looney with a straight
line "over" top of the o's. How was that pronounced. I know they
changed the name to Loney when the got to Canada, and we now pronounce
it Loney with a long o sound.
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May 18 2010, 15:42 PM
Redwolf
Ard-Banríon na Ráiméise
Posts: 51590
Website missmustang wrote:
I had a great great great grandfather who lived in Ireland and came to
Canada his last name was spelled: Looney with a straight line "over"
top of the o's. How was that pronounced. I know they changed the name
to Loney when the got to Canada, and we now pronounce it Loney with a
long o sound.
The Anglicized form "Loony" shouldn't have had any accents on the
"o's"...I'm not sure where that came from. "Loony" is the form the
English would have imposed on the Irish name...it's not the native
Irish spelling (for one thing, Irish doesn't have the letter "y," and
I don't believe I've ever seen a double "o" in Irish either)
The correct Irish form for "Loony/Loney" is Ó Luanaigh, for a man (it
would be pronounced, roughly, "Oh LOO-un-ee"). For a woman's maiden
name, it would be Ní Luanaigh (nee LOO-uh-nee), and for a woman's
married name, Uí Luanaigh (ee LOO-uh--nee).
Redwolf
Last edited by Redwolf on May 18 2010, 16:37 PM, edited 1 time in
total.
...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom! Salm
43:4
"Google Translate is not a translation site. it is an entertainment
site for teenagers too lazy to do their own homework" -- Doire Trasna
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 18 2010, 15:57 PM
Beagle
Laoch na nGael
Posts: 1088 Redwolf's right - no idea of the significance of the dash
over Os. From experience , I knew 2 people with that name. One said
loony, the other said lunney
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 20 2010, 14:45 PM
missmustang
New Arrival
Posts: 2 Thankyou Redwolf and Beagle, we traced our family to a place
called 6 mile crossing , but the place was destroyed and thats where
our records end so we can't see the spelling of names before charles
Looney
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 20 2010, 14:55 PM
SeanMurphy1
Giostaire
Posts: 3256
YIM Recorded in many spellings which are all loosely inter-related
and including O'Looney, O'Lunney, Looney, O'Loonan, Loonan, Loonane,
Lowney, Lunnen and Lunan, this is an Irish surname.
The development is from the pre 10th century Gaelic O'Luanaigh or O'
Luanain, both having the meaning of the "descendant of Luan", a
personal name meaning the hound, and as such originally a nickname for
a fast runner.
There were originally two septs in Ireland, one belonging to the
Munster counties of Cork, Kerry and Clare, and the other as Loonan,
Loonane, and Lunan, to County Waterford, and also occasionally County
Donegal.
Lowney, a form of Looney is popular in the Castletownbere region of
West Cork.
The second sept of O' Luanaigh were important in medieval times. They
were once chiefs of Cenel Moen in the barony of Raphoe, County
Donegal.
Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to
"develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original
spelling.
http://www.irishgaelictranslator.com/translation/topic99231.html
> http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.looney/28.256.1.1/mb.ashx- Hide quoted text -
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High Perl Lynx
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Origins of the LOONEY Name
Posted by Teresa McVeigh on January 18, 2010 at 3:52pm in LOONEY
Surname Genealogy
Back to LOONEY Surname Genealogy Discussions
There seem to be two main branches of Looneys and they may not
necessarily be related--the Manx and the Irish. To complicate matters,
some of the Manx Looneys went to ireland. Then both clans have spread
to the rest of the world. The answer to the origin question is l ost
in antiquity and probably can never be known. I will be posting a
message about the Manx name origins, but the Irish origins are also
interesting and I have researched that at one point. I'd love to hear
from anyone else on this topic.
Teresa
Tags: ireland, isle, looney, man, of, origins
► Reply to This
Replies to This Discussion
Permalink Reply by Teresa McVeigh on January 18, 2010 at 3:58pm
LEWNEY LOONEY on the Isle of Man
Manx is a Gaelic language with many Scandinavian words and influences
(invaded, if I remember correctly, about 800 AD).
Pronunciation (according to the book Surnames of the Manks [sic] by
Leslie Quilliam, 1996, Manx Heritage Foundation):
Lewney colloquial [ I am not going to try to use the symbols they use]
First syllable: L + A as in Bat + U as in But
Second Syllable: N + E as in Misery
In the modern form (England invaded, I think, about 1400s) Second
syllable is N+ I as in Beet
Looney Col
First Syllable: L + U as in Rule
Second Syllable: N + E in Misery
Modern Second Syllable: N + I as in Beet
Earliest Gaelic forms:
Mac Giolla Dhomhmaigh, meaning son of the Lord's Servant O'Luingh,
descendant of Luingh (meaning armed)
MacGillowny 1498 Gilowni Mac/M'Lawney Lownye 1540 Loweny 1602
MacLown(e)y 1603 1611 1703 MacLon(e)y 1611 Lownie LEWNEY 1623 LOONEY
1644 Loaney 1673 1680 Loney 1681 Loony 1721 Mylooney 1817 Luney 1829
Spelling did not begin to become standardized until Ben Jonson
published his Dictionary in England 1755 (there were earlier
dictionaries, but his was the most widely used and much more
complete), and in the US Noah Webster's in 1806. It took many years
for any kind of standardization to catch on. The Robert Looney line
arrived in Philadelphia about 1731, so you can see why many of their
documents have many different spellings. Spelling was up to the person
writing and could vary with the writer in the same document. Of
course, people still can't spell, so spelling is documents is still
entered incorrectly.
► Reply to This
Permalink Reply by Christine Thiessen on January 18, 2010 at 4:16pm
Wish I knew more about it but I only know what a cousin told me years
ago. That we were Manx. She also told me the early spelling of the
Looney name was possibly Mac Loughnies and was changed to Looney.
► Reply to This
Permalink Reply by Teresa McVeigh on January 19, 2010 at 4:28pm
Christine, Some of the Looneys are Irish and some are Manx. My husband
is from Robert Looney's line, who emigrated from the Isle of Man to
Philadelphia about 1731, then later moved on down to Virginia. If you
have not traced your Manx Looneys back to Robert, try to Looney
Surname Mailing List on Rootsweb.com and check the Tilton Manuscript
(I have written about both of them here) for tieins. Teresa
► Reply to This
Permalink Reply by Christine Thiessen on January 19, 2010 at 9:45pm
I am from the Robert Looney line also. I meant I wish I knew more
about the name and how it was originally spelled on the Isle of Mann.
I wish I knew where they were from before the Isle of Mann. So many
questions. My Looney line migrated down to Virginia, on to Tennessee,
then Alabama and finally Missouri. My third great grandfather Isam
Looney, born 1775- son of Benjamin, is buried in an old cemetery here
in Missouri.
► Reply to This
Permalink Reply by David Looney on January 20, 2010 at 5:09pm
I found this online
The name itself has passed through many forms. According to
genealogist David Craine, it is an ancient name in the Isle of Man
(thus Manxman or Mansker) and "comes from MacGillowney, the Manx form
of the early Gaelic name MacGiolla Dhomhnaigh .... [which was] worn
down to MacGillowney, and then to Lowney, Lewney, and Looney." A
common torm of the name in American records is Luna.
Craine also reports that in A.D. 1030, "Gilchrist O'Lunigh was Lord of
the Conel Moen" (the Isle of Man), and Looney descendant Elsie Stroud
cites the name in tax rolls of the Isle of Man in 1050. Craine further
reports that "In early times [the name] was found in the Parish of
Lonan, and in 1500 a Patrick MacGillony or MacGillewney owned land in
a part of the Parish called Amogary," land that was "long known as
Ballalooney or Ballalewney" [balla means village].
► Reply to This
Permalink Reply by Tina on February 18, 2010 at 11:24am
I'm also from the Robert Looney line - Isam is my 5-g-grandfather. Can
you tell me the name and location of the cemetery where he's buried?
Also, do you know anything about his wife and her background? I've
gotten some really mixed info on her. One account is that she was
Native American by the name of Littlefoot / Lightfoot, adopted by a
family named Greenway. Can you shed any light on or verify any of
this?
► Reply to This
Permalink Reply by Teresa McVeigh on February 28, 2010 at 6:36am
Tina,
I don't know who Isam Looney is, or even which son of Robert he comes
from. I suggest you join the Looney Mailing List on www.Rootsweb.com
where there are many long time Looney researchers who might be able to
help. You have to subscribe to the list to send messages. You also
need to identify his lineage, since others may know some of your line,
but not Isam in particular. It would also be helpful to know his
dates, since there might be more than on Isam, or they might spell it
differently (Isham?).
Teresa
► Reply to This
Permalink Reply by James Johnson on March 26, 2010 at 11:16am
Christine, I think I can shed some light on the Rhea lineage. I have
been researcing this for years. I am a descendant of Robert and
LLewelyn from the Isle of Man from Benjamin. As mentioned by others,
there are many spellings of Looney. From what I have gathered, it was
often written down phonetically and changed many times. There are some
Rheas that married Colemans and Youngs in Tenn. My Great Grandmother
lived on Looneys island in Knoxville. I will look up the Reah
connection at home let you know what I have. The Tilton book has a lot
of information.
► Reply to This
Permalink Reply by Christine Thiessen on March 26, 2010 at 1:09pm
James,
Thank you so much. I have often wondered about the origins of Margaret
Rhea. I will welcome any information! Benjamin Looney, Sr. was my 4th
great grandfather through his son Isam.
Christine
> Reply Translation Forum
> Author Message
>
> May 18 2010, 14:59 PM
>
> missmustang
> New Arrival
>
> Posts: 2 I had a great great great grandfather who lived in Ireland
> and came to Canada his last name was spelled: Looney with a straight
> line "over" top of the o's. How was that pronounced. I know they
> changed the name to Loney when the got to Canada, and we now pronounce
> it Loney with a long o sound.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> May 18 2010, 15:42 PM
> Redwolf
> Ard-Banríon na Ráiméise
>
> Posts: 51590Website missmustang wrote:
>
> I had a great great great grandfather who lived in Ireland and came to
> Canada his last name was spelled: Looney with a straight line "over"
> top of the o's. How was that pronounced. I know they changed the name
> to Loney when the got to Canada, and we now pronounce it Loney with a
> long o sound.
>
> The Anglicized form "Loony" shouldn't have had any accents on the
> "o's"...I'm not sure where that came from. "Loony" is the form the
> English would have imposed on the Irish name...it's not the native
> Irish spelling (for one thing, Irish doesn't have the letter "y," and
> I don't believe I've ever seen a double "o" in Irish either)
>
> The correct Irish form for "Loony/Loney" is Ó Luanaigh, for a man (it
> would be pronounced, roughly, "Oh LOO-un-ee"). For a woman's maiden
> name, it would be Ní Luanaigh (nee LOO-uh-nee), and for a woman's
> married name, Uí Luanaigh (ee LOO-uh--nee).
>
> Redwolf
> Last edited by Redwolf on May 18 2010, 16:37 PM, edited 1 time in
> total.
> ...agus déanfaidh mé do mholadh ar an gcruit a Dhia, a Dhia liom! Salm
> 43:4
>
> "Google Translate is not a translation site. it is an entertainment
> site for teenagers too lazy to do their own homework" -- Doire Trasna
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> May 18 2010, 15:57 PM
> Beagle
> Laoch na nGael
>
> Posts: 1088 Redwolf's right - no idea of the significance of the dash
> over Os. From experience , I knew 2 people with that name. One said
> loony, the other said lunney
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> May 20 2010, 14:45 PM
> missmustang
> New Arrival
>
> Posts: 2 Thankyou Redwolf and Beagle, we traced our family to a place
> called 6 mile crossing , but the place was destroyed and thats where
> our records end so we can't see the spelling of names before charles
> Looney
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.looney/28.256.1.1/mb.ashx-Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
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Looney
Looney may refer to:
An Irish family name, from the Irish Ó Luanaigh a descendant of
Luanach
J. Thomas Looney, originator of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare
authorship
An alternate spelling of Loonie, the Canadian dollar coin.
Looney, a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in The Adventures of Tom
Bombadil, now known as The Sea-Bell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney
> http://www.genealogywise.com/group/looneygenealogy/forum/topics/origi...
> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
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Looney
Looney may refer to:
An Irish family name, from the Irish Ó Luanaigh a descendant of
Luanach
J. Thomas Looney, originator of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare
authorship
An alternate spelling of Loonie, the Canadian dollar coin.
Looney, a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in The Adventures of Tom
Bombadil, now known as The Sea-Bell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney
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> http://www.genealogywise.com/group/looneygenealogy/forum/topics/origi...
> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -