The Quigley Name

Primary county: Donegal MayoRoscommon

History and Origins

The Ó Coigligh family — anglicised as Quigley, Quigly, or occasionally Cogley — were a Connacht sept settled primarily in the barony of Tirawley in County Mayo and in adjacent areas of Roscommon. A separate and prominent branch established itself in County Donegal, in Ulster, where the Quigleys were associated with the territory around Lough Swilly and the Fanad Peninsula. Both branches are recorded in sixteenth-century sources and in the genealogical collections of the hereditary historians.

The Mayo Origins

The Connacht Quigleys were part of the complex tribal world of Mayo and Roscommon, neighbours to the great O'Connor and Burke dynasties. Their territory in Tirawley — the barony that encompasses north Mayo — placed them on the Atlantic coast, a region that combined pastoral farming with access to the sea. The name appears in Connacht records from the fifteenth century onward, and Griffith's Valuation of the 1840s–1850s shows the surname strongly concentrated in north and east Mayo, with a secondary cluster in Roscommon.

The Donegal Branch

The Donegal Quigleys were settled in the Fanad Peninsula, one of the great peninsulas of north Donegal projecting into Lough Swilly. This branch appears to have been distinct from the Connacht family, and Donegal retains a significant Quigley presence to the present day. The playwright and novelist Sheila Quigley and several notable clergymen of the nineteenth century came from this Ulster branch. The Donegal Quigleys were part of the wider Cenél Conaill — the tribal grouping descended from Conall Gulban, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages — which dominated northwest Ulster.

Famine and Emigration

Mayo was among the worst-affected counties in the Great Famine of 1845–1852, with catastrophic mortality and mass emigration. Donegal also suffered severely. Quigley families emigrated in large numbers to the United States and Australia. The name became established in Irish-American communities in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and later in the Midwest. In Australia, the name appears in Queensland and New South Wales records from the 1850s onward.

The Diaspora

The Quigley diaspora is concentrated in the United States and Australia. American Quigleys are found most commonly in the northeast — New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut — reflecting the Connacht and Ulster emigration corridors. The name also has a presence in the American Midwest, particularly Illinois and Wisconsin, which drew Mayo emigrants through the latter half of the nineteenth century.

In American film and television, Linnea Quigley (born 1958) is among the best-known bearers of the name in popular culture. In Irish-American academic and ecclesiastical life, the Quigley name has appeared across several generations. Archbishop James E. Quigley (1854–1915) was Archbishop of Chicago, one of the most prominent Irish-American Catholic figures of the Gilded Age.

Notable Quigley Families

• Archbishop James E. Quigley (1854–1915) — Archbishop of Chicago from 1903 to 1915, one of the most influential Irish-American Catholic leaders of the Progressive Era.
• Martin Quigley (1890–1964) — American film industry figure and publisher of the Motion Picture Herald, credited as a key architect of the Hollywood Production Code (Hays Code) of 1930.
• Joan Quigley (1927–2014) — American astrologer who served as a secret consultant to President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan throughout the 1980s — a remarkable story of Irish-American influence.
• Declan Quigley — Contemporary Irish academic and anthropologist, author of studies on caste and hierarchy in South Asian societies.