MALOWNEY O'MOLONY, MALOUGHNEY
the origin of the name Malowney is Irish and the Coat of Arms contains Blue with a gold bow and a sheaf of arrows. The Crest is An arm holding a scimitar. The family motto is In Domino et mon in arcu meo sperabos
(MALOWNEY is listed on Irish Names Chart but I have yet to locate a living MALOWNEY in Ireland)
MOLONY or MOLONEY is O MAOLDHOMHNAIGH in Irish, which denotes descendent of a servant of the Church. It is seldom if ever found today with the original prefix "O", though it is one hundred percent Gaelic with no similar name to be found in England. Molony is a Dalcassian sept belonging to Kiltanon near Tulla, in East Claire, where they are very numerous today, though it is also found in equal numbers in adjoining counties of Limerick and Tipperary. An interesting example of the vagaries of Irish nomenclature is afforded by this name MOLONEY. Some families in north Co. Tipperary now called MOLONY are not O MAOLDHOMHNAIGH, but O MAOLFHACHTNA, which, however, is also in rare cases anglicized as MALOUGHNEY and MacLOUGHNEY, thus giving the impression it is a Mac and not an O name.
A number of MOLONYS have done good work in the field of historical and genealogical research. Two O'MOLONEYS of the Kiltanon sept were successively Bishops of Killaloe for a period of more than seventy years. The younger John O'MOLONEY (1617-1702), nephew of the elder, was remarkable both for his intellectual attainments as a University Professor in Paris and later for his stout resistance to the persecution of his fellow Catholics in Ireland. Father Donogh O'MOLONEY, V.G., of Killaloe, was tortured to death in 1601. Col. Sir James Stacpoole Moloney was one of those intrepid soldiers who took part in the forlorn hope attack on Montreal in 1786, in which ninety-three of the one hundred participants were killed. In America the name of Irish-born Martin MOLONY (1847-1929), self-made millionaire, is still well remembered on account of his munificence in Catholic causes.
Source of above: Thomas Mullins, Exports Ltd., Suppliers of Coats of Arms, Dublin
DEVOTEES OF THE CHURCH
The name Muldowney is found both in Ireland and Scotland. In Ireland it appears as the name of a sept akin to the MOLONYS, while in Scotland it was more commonly a personal rather than a surname. The origin of the name is the Gaelic O MAOLDOMNAIGH, meaning "Sunday's servant" or "Devotee of the Church."
In Gaelic the prefix "maol" means "servant" and stems from a word meaning "cropped" in the sense of "close-cropped hair." Close-cropped hair was a mark of a servile position among the Gaels whose nobles wore their hair long. When the Christianization of the Gaels took place, the prefix was often added to the personal names of popular saints to indicate an individual devoted to a saint.
In Ireland the Gaelic name MAOLDOMNAIGH has been variously anglicized as MULDOWNEY, MacGILDOWNEY, GILDOWNEY, MacDOWNEY, and DOWNEY, as well as MOLONY. The names MULDOWNEY and MOLONY were often synonymous and Malachy O'MOLONY, the first Bishop of Kilmacduagh from 1570 to 1610, was also called MULDOWNEY. In Kilkenny, in the barony of Fassadinin, the census of 1659 lists MULLOWNEY AND MULDOWNEY AS one name.
The MULDOWNEYS were part of the Dalcassian troops of the Royal House of O'BRIEN. The arms depicted above is recorded under the synonymous name MOLONY, and would seem to indicate their reputation as warriors.
The name is also common in Scottish records where it was more often a personal rather than a last name. In Skye it was given as a personal name to a boy whose care was provided for from the Sunday collection.
In 1128 a "Meldoinneth filius (son of) Machedeth" is listed in a record of a complaint by the monks of St. Serf's Island, Loch Leven, against Sir Robert Burgonesis. In the 13th Century, Thomas filius MALDOWNEY took part as a witness to the perambulation of the lands of Kynggesside in Eddleston parish.
History of the Name by Sanson Institute of Heraldry, reprinted in Tulsa (OK, US) Daily World, 2 Jan 1969
Maclysaght does not show MALOWNEY and Matheson comes close with MALOWNY..showing it as one of the 14 variations of MOLONY. O'Laughlin in his 'Irish Surnames' says that MALOWNY is a variation of MOLONY.
First found in in county Clare where they had been seated from ancient times.
Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Eleanor Moloney settled in Boston, Massachusetts. in 1767; Joseph Moloney settled in Pennsylvania in 1772; Biddy, Edmund, George, James, John, Michael, and Patrick Molony all arrived in Canada in 1847; John Mol and others.