Aulay
male given name
Aulay is a Scottish masculine given name. It is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic Amhladh, Amhlaidh, Amhlaigh, and Amhlaibh. The standard Irish Gaelic form of these names is Amhlaoibh (pronounced [ˈəulˠiːvʲ], Munster Irish: [ˈəulˠiː]); which can be Anglicised as Auliffe and Humphrey.
The Old Irish personal name Amlaíb is a Gaelicised form of the Old Norse Óláfr, and is recorded in the Annals of Ulster as being introduced into Ulster by "Amlaíb, son of the king of Lochlann" In the 9th century, Óláfr may have been pronounced more like the Old Norse Áleifr. A Classical Gaelic form of this Old Irish name is Amhlaíbh.
The older Irish Gaelic names Amalgaid and Amhalghaidh (pronounced "owl-ghee"), were borne by an early king of Munster, and an early king of Connacht. Even though these names were of a different origin than the above Gaelicised Norse names, they were "totally confused" in the later Middle Ages with them. In later times, Amalgaid and Amhalghaidh were Anglicised as Auley; as well as Awley, which was a spelling commonly used by the Magawleys of Calry.
In the Irish counties of Antrim and Armagh, Amley is found as a variant of Aulay or Auley and gives rise to the surname MacAmley or Macamley.
Notable people with these names
Personal name
Aulay
Aulay Macaulay (died 1788), an English inventor of a system of shorthand
Sir Aulay MacAulay of Ardincaple (died 1617), a Scottish clan chief
Aulay MacAulay Morrison (1863–1942), a Canadian lawyer and politician
Amhlaoibh
Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin (1780–1838), an Irish language author, linen draper, politician, and one time hedge school master
Amalgaid
Amalgaid mac Congalaig (died 718), an Irish king of Brega, from the Uí Chonaing sept of Cnogba (Knowth) of the Síl nÁedo Sláine branch of the southern Ui Neill
Amalgaid mac Éndai (died 601), an Irish king of Munster, from the Eóganacht Áine branch of the Eoganachta
Amalgaid mac Fiachrae (died 440), an Irish king of Connacht, from the Ui Fiachrach sept
Amlaíb
Amlaíb Conung (died c.875), a Norse or Norse-Gael leader in Ireland and Scotland in the years after 850.
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