surnames.ie

Irish surname · 77th most common in 1911

Whelan

Whelan is an English form of the Irish Ó Faoláin, 'descendant of Faolán', a name built on faol, 'wolf'. Its leading family ruled the Déise, the old kingdom of Waterford and south Tipperary, before the Normans came; a second family lived in south Kilkenny. Phelan is the same Irish name spelt differently.

Irish Ó FaoláinIrish Ó FaoileáinIrish Ó hAoláin
1901 census
8,220
#77 · 19 per 10,000
1911 census
8,300
#77 · 19 per 10,000
1926 census
8,245
#58 · 28 per 10,000
Most numerous
Dublin
Highest share: Laois

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic Gaelic Irish: the surname of the royal family of the Déise in Waterford, and of a separate family in south Kilkenny.[1][2]

Ó Faoláin
“descendant of Faolán”[1][3][4][2]
Woulfe's headword and the modern standard form; a woman uses Ní Fhaoláin. The Middle Irish form was Úa Faeláin. Whelan and Phelan are its two commonest English spellings.
Ó Faoileáin
“descendant of Faolán”[5]
A slenderised spelling of Ó Faoláin, which Woulfe says was also anglicised Whelan or Phelan.
Ó hAoláin
“descendant of Faolán”[6][3]
The same name after the initial f was aspirated and dropped in speech. Usually anglicised Hyland, Heelan or Holland, but in Connacht Woulfe found its forms nearly always also rendered Whelan.

The name is built on the personal name Faolán, usually explained as “little wolf”. Woulfe explains Faolán as a diminutive of faol, 'a wolf'. Wikipedia traces it to Old Irish faelán, a young or small wolf, with the diminutive ending -án.[1][2]

Pronunciation

Whelan: WEE-lun

Place

Where the Whelans lived

How common the name was in each county, as a share of the population, in the three surviving full censuses of Ireland. Use the buttons to compare years.

Donegal: 0.2 per 10,000 (4 people) Waterford: 104 per 10,000 (856 people) Dublin: 42.6 per 10,000 (2,047 people) Kilkenny: 32.4 per 10,000 (243 people) Carlow: 99.6 per 10,000 (362 people) Limerick: 19.5 per 10,000 (280 people) Louth: 1.1 per 10,000 (7 people) Tipperary: 31.3 per 10,000 (477 people) Roscommon: 3 per 10,000 (28 people) Meath: 6.7 per 10,000 (44 people) Wicklow: 57.4 per 10,000 (349 people) Cavan: 1.3 per 10,000 (12 people) Cork: 7 per 10,000 (274 people) Clare: 24.4 per 10,000 (255 people) Galway: 22 per 10,000 (401 people) Mayo: 2.3 per 10,000 (44 people) Sligo: 1.9 per 10,000 (15 people) Leitrim: 9.5 per 10,000 (60 people) Offaly: 31.4 per 10,000 (179 people) Laois: 158.2 per 10,000 (866 people) Kildare: 56.5 per 10,000 (378 people) Kerry: 5.6 per 10,000 (89 people) Monaghan: 2.8 per 10,000 (20 people) Wexford: 80.7 per 10,000 (826 people) Longford: 9.1 per 10,000 (40 people) Westmeath: 4.5 per 10,000 (27 people) Tyrone: 0.5 per 10,000 (7 people) Antrim: 1.6 per 10,000 (77 people) Armagh: 0.2 per 10,000 (2 people) Fermanagh: 0.2 per 10,000 (1 people) Londonderry: no records Down: 1 per 10,000 (30 people)
fewerup to 159 per 10,000

Share of each county's census population. 1926 covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State only.

Highest concentration · 1911

Laois

158 per 10,000

866 Whelans · 8.37× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Laois 158
  2. Waterford 104
  3. Carlow 100
  4. Wexford 81
  5. Wicklow 57
  6. Kildare 57
  7. Dublin 43
  8. Kilkenny 32

Per 10,000 residents. A concentration index above 1 means the name was commoner there than nationally.

County figures as a table
County190119111926Per 10k 1901Per 10k 1911Per 10k 1926
Antrim6677—12—
Armagh22—00—
Carlow3663623169810092
Cavan141219112
Clare282255237252425
Cork318274254877
Donegal148001
Down2930—11—
Dublin1,7582,0472,399404348
Fermanagh21—00—
Galway417401353222221
Kerry1188987766
Kildare382378381625766
Kilkenny334243236443233
Laois906866785159158153
Leitrim4960437108
Limerick236280306162022
Longford424036999
Louth20715312
Mayo494450323
Meath334432575
Monaghan222037336
Offaly160179175273133
Roscommon382829434
Sligo191514222
Tipperary504477441323132
Tyrone77—11—
Waterford921856837105104107
Westmeath262744458
Wexford756826796738184
Wicklow343349315575755

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Whelans made up the largest share of the population. In Bohadoon, Co. Waterford, about one resident in 11 was a Whelan.

DEDCountyWhelansShare
BohadoonWaterford45 9.5%
DonaghmoreLaois30 8.0%
ClongeenWexford46 7.6%
TankardstownLaois24 6.8%
MoatGalway20 6.5%
CoolballintaggartWicklow34 6.1%
RathgomuckWaterford25 5.9%
Borris in OssoryLaois36 5.3%

Origins

Septs & territories

Many Irish surnames were adopted independently by unrelated families. These are the distinct Whelan lineages described in the sources.

A surname can point you towards a place. On its own, it cannot establish a pedigree.

Ó Faoláin of the Déise

the Déise (Decies), in present-day Co. Waterford and south Co. Tipperary · Waterford, Tipperary

Woulfe describes this as a large and once powerful Munster family who were lords of the Decies before the Anglo-Norman invasion. Wikipedia traces the surname to the 10th- and 11th-century ruling line of the Déisi, named after Faelán mac Cormac, king of the Déisi in 966. The family lost most of its power after the Normans took Waterford in 1170.[1][2][7]

Ó Faoláin of Magh Lacha

Magh Lacha, a plain in the barony of Kells · Kilkenny

A second, Leinster family of the name, which Woulfe says was anciently seated at Magh Lacha in the barony of Kells, Co. Kilkenny. He gives no further history for it.[1]

The name over time

History

The wolf name

Whelan comes from Ó Faoláin, 'descendant of Faolán'. Faolán was a personal name meaning 'little wolf', formed from faol, 'wolf', and a diminutive ending. In Middle Irish the surname was written Úa Faeláin, ua being the old word for a grandson or male-line descendant. Woulfe lists early English renderings such as O Whealane, O Phelane, O Foelane and O Fylane, which in time settled into the modern spellings Whelan and Phelan. Both spellings belong to the same Irish name.[1][2][7]

Kings of the Déise

The Déisi Muman were a people who formed their own regional kingdom in Munster, covering what is now Co. Waterford and south Tipperary. In the 10th and 11th centuries its kings were the Uí Fhaeláin. Wikipedia names the founder as Faelán mac Cormac and dates his kingship to 966, although the Annals of Inishfallen also record his death in that year. His grandson Mothla was the first man styled úa Faeláin. Mothla fought on Brian Ború's side at Clontarf in 1014 and was killed there, and the Annals of Ulster say his head was buried with Brian's at Armagh.[8][2][7]

Rivals in Munster

The annals show the Uí Fhaeláin entangled in the wars of the Norse and of Brian Ború. In 985 Brian ravaged the Déise and pursued Domnall son of Faelán as far as Waterford. In 1031 Domnall's son Diarmaid, lord of the Déise, was killed in battle by a son of Brian. The family also feuded with the Uí Bric, another Déise family; in 1051 the Uí Fhaeláin burned a lord of the Déise of that line. Woulfe notes that the Uí Bric, once lords of the southern Déise, were overshadowed by the O'Phelans and faded from the record.[8][7][9]

The Norman landing of 1170

When Strongbow's Anglo-Norman army came to Diarmait Mac Murchada's aid in 1170, the Déise lay directly in its path. The Annals of the Four Masters record that Waterford was taken by force and that Ua Faeláin, lord of the Déise, was captured there with his son. Wikipedia's Phelan article adds that this lord, Melaghlin, was spared at the request of Diarmait Mac Murchada and submitted to Henry II in 1171. Later O'Phelan lords still appear in the annals: one died in 1205, and in 1208 an O'Phelan killed the bishop of Waterford. By then, though, most of the Déise had been absorbed into the Anglo-Norman colony.[2][7]

Spread and survival

Woulfe found the surname in nearly every county of Munster and Leinster by the 16th century, and in Roscommon and Galway as well. Wikipedia says it stays common in Co. Waterford and in the neighbouring part of Kilkenny, especially the barony of Iverk, which its own article describes as O'Phelan country. The Kilkenny Whelans may also reflect Woulfe's second Ó Faoláin family, seated at Magh Lacha in the barony of Kells.[1][2][10]

Whelan, Phelan and Hyland

Several spellings grew out of one Irish name. Woulfe says Ó Faoláin was often pronounced Ó Fualáin, and that when the opening f was aspirated it became Ó hAoláin or Ó hUaláin. Ó hAoláin was common in Offaly and Laois in the 16th century and is usually anglicised Hyland, Heelan or Holland, yet in Connacht its forms were also written Whelan. Wikipedia lists Felan, Faelan and Hyland among the earliest English forms. A few names that sound alike are different in origin, such as Ó Faoilleacháin (Whelehan) of Westmeath.[1][6][11][2]

Places linked to the name

  • Waterford (Port Láirge), Co. Waterford — The Norse town taken by Strongbow in 1170, when Ua Faeláin, lord of the Déise, was captured there with his son.[2][7]
  • Dungarvan (Dún Garbhán), Co. Waterford — Legendary history places the first settlement of the Déisi here around AD 300.[2]
  • Iverk (Uíbh Eirc), Co. Kilkenny — South Kilkenny barony described as O'Phelan territory, where Wikipedia says the name is still especially common.[10][2]
  • Magh Lacha, barony of Kells, Co. Kilkenny — Ancient seat of Woulfe's second, Leinster family of Ó Faoláin.[1]

Everyday lives

The Whelans in the census

Who the Whelans were in the 1901 and 1911 censuses (and 1926 where recorded), set against everyone in Ireland in the same census.

Whelans All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Whelan bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +24.3 points vs Ireland
Whelans 97.9%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −11.5 points vs Ireland
Whelans 1.7%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian −10.0 points vs Ireland
Whelans 0.1%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −2.8 points vs Ireland
Whelans 0.3%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −2.1 points vs Ireland
Whelans 13.2%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 −2.5 points vs Ireland
Whelans 11.0%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties −3.6 points vs Ireland
Whelans 9.9%
All of Ireland 13.5%

46 Whelans spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ −1.8 points vs Ireland
Whelans 78.6%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ −1.1 points vs Ireland
Whelans 84.7%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 1,746 households lower than Ireland
Whelans 4.68
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 higher than Ireland
Whelans 6.52
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living −2.5 points vs Ireland
Whelans 77.3%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer1,130
Farmer's son564
Agricultural labourer416
General labourer395
Labourer326
Farmer's daughter289
Farm servant274
Domestic servant209
Farm labourer195
House keeper170

Born outside Ireland

0.8% of Whelans in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England42
United States12
Scotland5
Australia & NZ3
Canada2
India2

Median age: 24 in 1901, 25 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Whelans

Men and boys

  1. John1,841
  2. Patrick1,577
  3. James1,196
  4. Michael1,183
  5. Thomas1,125
  6. William714
  7. Edward347
  8. Joseph340
  9. Martin299
  10. Peter261

Women and girls

  1. Mary2,226
  2. Bridget1,008
  3. Margaret846
  4. Ellen592
  5. Catherine529
  6. Annie431
  7. Kate430
  8. Elizabeth429
  9. Anne315
  10. Julia264

All three censuses combined. Top five in 1926: John, Patrick, Michael, James, Thomas; Mary, Margaret, Bridget, Elizabeth, Annie.

Spellings

Spellings

This page combines the spellings below, which census enumerators and families used for the same name.

Spelling190119111926Records
Whelan8,2208,3008,245Search

Related forms

  • Phelan, O'Phelan — The other main English spelling of Ó Faoláin. Phelan has its own page and statistics on this site and is not merged here.[1][7]
  • Whalen, Whalan — Spelling variants of the same name; Wikipedia counts Whalen with Whelan as the two most frequent modern forms.[2]
  • Felan, Faelan, Fylan, Philan — Early or rarer English forms of Ó Faoláin.[1][2]
  • Hyland, Heelan, Holland — From Ó hAoláin, the aspirated form of the name; sometimes interchangeable with Whelan, especially in Connacht.[6][3]
  • Whelehan, Whelahan — Usually a different name, Ó Faoilleacháin of Westmeath, though Woulfe notes it was sometimes written Whelan.[11]
  • MacPhelan — From Mac Faoláin, 'son of Faolán', which Woulfe calls extremely rare.[12]
  • Ní Fhaoláin — The Irish form used by a woman.[4]

Diaspora

The Whelans abroad

Emigration carried the name worldwide. In the 2010 United States census:

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Whelan11,3633181st

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 surname file (public domain).

Heraldry

Is there a Whelan coat of arms?

There is no single Whelan crest, because arms belonged to particular families. Burke's General Armory records arms for an O'Faelan sept of Munster, said to descend from Faelan, chief of the northern Déise: silver, four blue lozenges joined in a diagonal band between two thin bands, with three silver fleurs-de-lis on a red chief. Burke also records a separate grant made in 1831 to Sir Thomas Whelan, alderman and Lord Mayor elect of Dublin, with the motto 'Turris fortis mihi Deus'.[13]

Websites selling a single “Whelan family crest” are selling a design, not an inheritance. Arms in Ireland belonged to individuals and their heirs, and the Chief Herald of Ireland still grants arms that way today.

People

Notable people named Whelan

  • Patrick J. Whelan (c. 1840–1869)
    Irish-born tailor hanged for the 1868 assassination of Thomas D'Arcy McGee; he maintained his innocence.
  • Leo Whelan (1892–1956)
    Dublin portrait and genre painter, a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy.
  • Thomas Whelan (1898–1921)
    One of six men executed in Mountjoy Prison in March 1921 during the War of Independence.
  • Seán Ó Faoláin (1900–1991)
    Short-story writer, critic and commentator, born John Francis Whelan.
  • Gloria Whelan (born 1923)
    American poet and novelist who won the 2000 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
  • Eugene Whelan (1924–2013)
    Canadian farmer and Liberal politician, long-serving federal minister of agriculture.
  • Billy (Liam) Whelan (1935–1958)
    Dublin-born Manchester United inside-forward killed in the Munich air disaster aged 22.
  • Nuala O'Faolain (1940–2008)
    Journalist and writer whose memoir Are You Somebody? became an international bestseller.
  • Bill Whelan (born 1950)
    Irish composer best known for Riverdance, first performed at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.
  • Máire Whelan (born 1956)
    Attorney General of Ireland from 2011 to 2017, later a judge of the Court of Appeal.
  • Ronnie Whelan (born 1961)
    Irish midfielder at the heart of Liverpool's trophy-winning side of the 1980s.
  • Wendy Whelan (born 1967)
    American ballet dancer, principal with New York City Ballet over a thirty-year career.

Questions

Questions about the Whelan name

Is Whelan an Irish surname?

Yes. Whelan is an anglicised form of the Gaelic Ó Faoláin, 'descendant of Faolán'. The main family of the name were kings of the Déise, centred on what is now Co. Waterford, in the 10th and 11th centuries, and a second family was seated in the barony of Kells in Co. Kilkenny. The name is still strongly associated with Waterford and south Kilkenny.[1][2]

What is Whelan in Irish?

The Irish form is Ó Faoláin for a man and Ní Fhaoláin for a woman. Faolán, the ancestor's name, means 'little wolf'. The writer Seán Ó Faoláin, born John Francis Whelan, used the Irish form, and in Connacht some Whelans may come from the related form Ó hAoláin.[3][4][2][6]

Are Whelan and Phelan the same name?

Yes, in origin. Both are English spellings of Ó Faoláin, and Wikipedia describes them as its two commonest anglicisations, found especially in Waterford and Kilkenny. Early clerks wrote the name O Whealane or O Phelane, and families settled on one spelling or the other. This site gives Phelan its own page and does not merge the two.[7][1][2]

How do you pronounce Whelan?

Usually 'WEE-lun', with the stress on the first syllable. Wiktionary gives /ˈwiː.lən/, and /ˈʍiː.lən/ for speakers who keep the old breathy 'wh' sound. Phelan, the related spelling of the same Irish name, is most often said 'FEE-lun', although Wikipedia notes other local pronunciations in parts of Kilkenny.[14][15][7]

What does the name Whelan mean?

It means 'descendant of Faolán'. Faolán is a diminutive of faol, an old Irish word for a wolf, so the name is often explained as 'little wolf'. The surname takes its name from Faelán mac Cormac, king of the Déise in the 10th century, whose grandson Mothla was the first to be called úa Faeláin.[1][2]

Is there a Whelan family crest or coat of arms?

Not one for everyone called Whelan. Burke's General Armory records arms for an O'Faelan sept of Munster, with fleurs-de-lis on a red chief, and a different grant of 1831 to Sir Thomas Whelan, Lord Mayor elect of Dublin, whose motto was 'Turris fortis mihi Deus' ('God is my strong tower'). Each belonged to a particular family.[13]

Where in Ireland is the Whelan surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Whelans lived in Dublin (2,047), Laois (866), Waterford (856). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Laois (158 per 10,000), Waterford (104 per 10,000), Carlow (100 per 10,000).

How common was the Whelan surname in Ireland?

8,300 people were recorded as Whelan in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 77th most common surname. That is roughly 0.2% of the population, or 1 person in 529.

Looking for a Whelan ancestor?

Search every Whelan household in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, with free images of the original forms.

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Faoláin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Wikipedia, Whelan (2026)
  3. Gaois research group, Dublin City University, Sloinnte: Irish surname data (version 2) (2022). Clusters 'Faolán' (Ó Faoláin: Whelan, Phelan, Folan) and 'Aolán' (Ó hAoláin: Hyland, also Whelan).
  4. Wiktionary, Ó Faoláin (2026)
  5. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Faoileáin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  6. Patrick Woulfe, Ó hAoláin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  7. Wikipedia, Phelan (surname) (2026)
  8. Wikipedia, Déisi (2026)
  9. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Bric, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  10. Wikipedia, Iverk (2026)
  11. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Faoilleacháin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  12. Patrick Woulfe, Mac Faoláin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  13. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries 'O'Faelan', 'Phelan' and 'Whelan (Dublin)'.
  14. Wiktionary, Whelan (2026)
  15. Wiktionary, Phelan (2026)
  16. Census of Ireland 1901 and 1911, and Census of Population 1926, National Archives of Ireland. Counts compiled by surnames.ie from the irishcensus.com transcription (dataset 20260831130351). 1926 data © National Archives of Ireland, CC BY 4.0.

How we compile these figures: methodology.