Riley Coat of arms information below

Welcome to the Riley web site. Some of the pages on this site are password protected for our security. If you would like to know the password send me an email and I'll let you know what it is.
jim@rileyinfo.com

This site is primarily related to the descendants of Frederick W. Riley and Helen V. Hagadorn - In time I would like to add a lot of information related to the history of our family and other Riley family members that are related to us.

the great sept of O Raghailligh in County Cavan or the ancient area known as Breffny or in Irish Breifne. The name literally meaning "descendant of Raghallach", was until recently much more commonly found in English without the prefix O. Reilly and O'Reilly constitute one of the most numerous names in Ireland, being among the first dozen in the list. The bulk of these come from Cavan and adjoining counties, the area to which they belong by origin, for they were for centuries the most powerful sept in Breffny, their head being chief of Breffny-O'Reilly and for a long time in the middle ages his influence extended well into Meath and Westmeath. At the present time we find them very numerous still in Breffny, heading as they do the county list both in Cavan and Longford. In 1878 O'Reilly landlords possessed over 30,000 acres. The name has also become Riley, especially in England. Other variant forms include O'Rahilly, O'Rielly, Rahilly, Raleigh, Reyley, Rielly, Radley, Ridley, Ryley, and Reillé, though a number of these forms have quite different origins. The individual who gave the sept its name was one Raghallach ("ragh:" Irish, a race; "ceallach," gregarious) was slain at the Battle of Clontarf, 1014, alongside the High King of Ireland, Brian Boru. Raghallach himself was of the same stock as the O'Rourkes and therefore of the line of the great O'Connor kings of Connacht.
More on this topic at http://www.araltas.com/features/reilly/

Origin Displayed: Irish

All Irish surnames have a distinct meaning. The meaning behind the name Riley begins when the name originally appeared in Gaelic as O Raghailligh, which means descendant of Raghallach.

Spelling variations of this family name include: O'Reilly, O'Reilley, O'Reily, O'Rielly, O'Riely, O'Riley, O'Rilley and many more.

First found in county Cavan, where they held a family seat from very ancient times.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: the families who settled in Newfoundland - in St. John's, Tilton Harbour, Placientia, Tickle Bay, Tilt Cove, and many more, between 1805 and 1871; James O'Reiley settled in New York in 1823.

(Above is a small excerpt from our 1800 word history)

ORIGIN: IRISH Spelling variations of this family name include: O'Reilly, O'Reilley, O'Reily, O'Rielly, O'Riely, O'Riley, O'Rilley and many more. First found in county Cavan, where they held a family seat from very ancient times. Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: the families who settled in Newfoundland - in St. John's, Tilton Harbour, Placientia, Tickle Bay, Tilt Cove, and many more, between 1805 and 1871; James O'Reiley settled in New York in 1823.
Found at http://www.4crests.com/rifacrricoof.html