Cleary

Cleary is the anglicised form of Ó Clérigh, one of the most distinguished scholarly families in Irish history. The Four Masters who compiled Ireland's great annals were O'Clearys.

Origins and History

Cleary — Ó Clérigh in Gaelic — is one of the most historically significant surnames in Irish scholarship. The name derives from cleireach, meaning cleric or scholar, and the Ó Cléirigh family served for centuries as hereditary keepers of learning in Connacht. Their most celebrated achievement was the compilation of the Annals of the Four Masters (1632–1636), the great chronicle of Irish history from the Flood to 1616. The four principal compilers were all O'Clearys.

The family's original territory was in County Galway, in the barony of Kilmaine and around Kilronan on Aran. As hereditary historians and genealogists to the Ó Domhnaill kings of Donegal, the O'Clearys maintained their scholarly function through the disruptions of the Norman invasion and into the early modern period.

The Four Masters

Mícheál Ó Cléirigh — Michael O'Cleary — was the moving force behind the Annals of the Four Masters, compiled in Donegal between 1632 and 1636. He was a Franciscan lay brother who gathered three other scholars — all bearing the O'Cleary name — to compile the most comprehensive record of Irish history ever attempted. The annals remain a primary source for early and medieval Irish history. The manuscript is held in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.

Distribution and variants

The name is spelled Cleary, O'Cleary, Clery, and occasionally Clary in different records. In Cork, the variant Clery is more common. In Connacht, Cleary is the standard anglicisation. The name's scholarly associations meant that many bearers survived as literate professionals — scribes, priests, schoolmasters — even through the worst periods of Gaelic dispossession.

The Famine period

In the Famine, Galway and Roscommon suffered severely. Many Cleary families emigrated to New York, Boston, and the industrial cities of England. The name appears in the Civil Registration records of Galway from the 1840s onward, concentrated in the Tuam and Loughrea registration districts.

In the Diaspora

In the United States, Cleary is concentrated in the Northeast — New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — reflecting the Famine-era emigration routes from Connacht. The name appears in Irish-American professional and political life: Arthur C. Cleary was an American diplomat, and Cleary families feature prominently in the legal profession in New York and Boston.

In Australia, Cleary appears in colonial records from the 1850s, particularly in Victoria where the gold rush attracted Irish emigrants. In Canada, the name is found in Ontario and Nova Scotia, again reflecting Connacht emigration routes.

Notable Clearys

• Mícheál Ó Cléirigh — 17th-century Franciscan scholar, chief compiler of the Annals of the Four Masters
• Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh — Co-compiler of the Annals of the Four Masters, cousin of Mícheál
• Kate Cleary — 19th-century Irish-American novelist and poet, Nebraska pioneer