Moloney Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Moloney Family History

Moloney Family History

The family history of the ancient name Moloney was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Meaning 'servant of the church', variants of Moloney include Maloney, O'Molony and Molony. This Irish surname is of true Gaelic stock and is seldom found with the original prefix 'O'. They were a Dalcassian sept who belonged to Kiltanon near Tulla in County Clare, spreading to the adjoining Counties of Limerick and Tipperary, where today they are to be found in their greatest numbers. Two O'Moloneys of the Kiltanon sept were successive Bishops of Killaloe for a period of more than seventy years. The younger John O'Moloney, 1617-1702, was remarkable both for his intellectual attainments as a University Professor in Paris, and later for his resistance to the persecution of Catholics in Ireland.The Moloney family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Moloney descendants.