McNulty

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title: "McNulty" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["surnames-of-irish-origin", "irish-families", "irish-medical-families"] topic_path: "geography/ireland" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McNulty" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox surname"]

FieldValue
nameMcNulty
captionMcNulty arms
meaning"son of the Ulsterman"
regionUlster, Ireland
languageIrish
variantMcAnulty, McEnulty,
::

| name = McNulty | image = | image_size = | caption = McNulty arms | pronunciation = | meaning = "son of the Ulsterman" | region = Ulster, Ireland | language = Irish | variant = McAnulty, McEnulty, (Donlevy) | family = | prefix =

McNulty is an Irish surname. It is derived from the Gaelic Mac an Ultaigh meaning "son of the Ulsterman". Usually considered a branch of the Ulaid ruling dynasty of Mac Duinnshléibhe (MacDonlevy), a branch of Dál Fiatach, who fled Ulaid to Ailech after the former's conquest in 1177 by the Normans. DNA analysis points to descent from other Ulaid families as well. After the Battle of Kinsale in 1602, some McDonlevys and McNultys migrated to the province of Connacht where their name is now also common.

Origin

The name is said to have arisen from a branch of the ruling Ulaid dynasty of Mac Duinnshléibhe (MacDonlevy) who had migrated to what is now County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland after John de Courcy's conquest of Ulaid in 1177. Here some of the MacDonlevys were nicknamed Ultagh/Ultach. However, historical records such as the 1659 "Census" as well as Griffith's Valuation (1848-1864) show that concentrations of McNultys were found in parts of Ireland where the MacDonlevys had little presence, coupled with DNA analysis showing that the McNultys may actually derive from other Gaelic families that migrated from Ulaid and not just the MacDonlevy's. The names Ultagh/Ultach and Mac an Ultaigh applied to only those that fled Ulaid and was not used for those that remained.

Regardless of their actual origin, the first McNulty to be recorded is found in the Annals of the Four Masters under the year 1281, where an "Murtough Macan-Ulty" is listed as a distinguished fatality at the battle of Desertcreagh in present-day County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

The probable transition of the name Mac an Ultaigh from the Ultagh MacDonlevy's can be seen around 1601 where one "Morris Ultagh" is recorded as "Morris m'Nich Ultagh". The surname prefix "m'Nich" appears to be an English confusion of the female prefix Nic with the male prefix Mac.

Other variant spellings of McNulty include McNaulty, McNalty, and rarely as O'Nalty, Nolty, McNult, McEnulty and McKnulty. and others. McNulty has been Anglicized as North.

In County Clare and its adjacent County Tipperary in the southwest of the Republic of Ireland, the toponymics Connoulty and Kinoulty are encountered, and are believed to be Anglicisations of Mac an Ultaigh.

Diaspora

By 1980, there were 19,469 persons surnamed McNulty in the United States Social Security Administration data base. The surname McNulty was, then, the 2332 most frequently occurring surname in that database. Some of the first McNulty immigrants to North America arrived in Philadelphia and New York City in the very early 19th century and, later, more numerously, in both Philadelphia and New York City between 1840 and 1860, during which period the Great Famine of Ireland occurred.

There are an estimated 421 persons surnamed McNulty in Australia. Denis McInulty, one of the first McNulty to arrive in Australia, arrived there from Scotland on 16 May 1846 on the prisoner transport the China under a 10-year sentence of the Glasgow Justiciary Court.

In the United Kingdom the surname McNulty is shared by an estimated 7,318 people and is approximately the 1,472th most popular surname in the country.

Notable McNultys

Actors

Musicians

Military

Politicians

Sportspeople

Writers

Other

Fictional characters

  • Jimmy McNulty, a character on HBO drama The Wire
    • Elena McNulty (Jimmy's estranged wife), Sean James McNulty (Jimmy's and Elena's eldest son) and Michael Barnes McNulty (Jimmy's and Elena's youngest son) also appear as characters on The Wire.
  • Liam McNulty, a fictional character in BBC Scotland soap opera River City
  • Middenface McNulty, post-apocalyptic science fiction character
  • McNulty Rugrats
    • There are 7 McNulty characters in the Emmy nominated animated TV series.
    • 5 McNulty brother Rugrats (Timothy, Todd, Ty, Teddy and Terry)
    • The brothers' grandfather Conan
    • The brothers' mother Colleen
  • Lt. Ray McNulty and his son Van McNulty are characters in the U.S. TV series Smallville
  • Meet Mr. McNutley was a successful CBS television network series that ran 44 episodes from 1953 to 1955. The show's title and the last name of its main character were changed to "McNulty" in the second episode. The show was, later, again, retitled the Ray Milland Show. Milland played the show's main character Prof. Ray McNulty. The U.S. television actress Phyllis Avery played the professor's wife Peggy McNulty.
  • The eye patched rogue and heel Red McNulty "of Dublin, Ireland" and the outright villain Ivan Koloff "The Russian Bear" were ring personas of Canadian wrestler Oreal Perras (Oreal James Perras), a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion who fought 3,962 documented career bouts.
  • Stephen Graham played the character Peter McNulty in 2 episodes of the TV series Jump.
  • Thelma Ritter won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Ellen McNulty in the 1951 film the Mating Season.
  • Actress Gene Tierney played Maggie Carleton McNulty in the Mating Season (1951).
  • There is a McNulty character in both the movie Trancers and its sequel Trancers II. In both movies the McNulty character is portrayed by actor Art LaFleur.
  • Maggie Cline became famous in vaudeville singing popular Irish songs, including "How McNulty Carved His Duck".
  • There is a Moshi Monsters moshling character in the puppies set named McNulty.
  • Patrick McNulty, the main character in the Twilight Zone episode "A Kind of a Stopwatch"
  • Lt. Nulty, Los Angeles, California police detective, a featured character in Raymond Chandler's second Philip Marlowe detective novel, Farewell, My Lovely, which was thrice produced as a movie under various titles (1942, 1944, and 1975) and was adapted for radio broadcast.
  • In 23 episodes of the NBC television drama E-Ring, Dennis Hopper played the character Colonel Eli McNulty, who in story is a combat decorated former POW and Vietnam War veteran and principal staff officer of a "Special Operations Division".

Places

  • McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts, Duquesne University
  • McNulty Gulch near Leadville, Colorado in the U.S. Ten Mile Mining District.
  • McNulty Campus at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, King's Point, New York, named after Vice Admiral Richard R. McNulty, the Academy's "father" and its third superintendent.
  • McNulty Hall, a residence hall at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, is named after Lieutenant Colonel John F. McNulty, Jr., who was the University's Dean of Students for near 3 decades and its Athletic Director.
  • McNulty Hall, which is Seton Hall University's Technology and Research Center is named after Monsignor John L. McNulty, the University's 13th President.
  • McNulty Lake is a lake in Lee County, Arkansas
  • The community of McNulty, Oregon is named after Oregon pioneer John McNulty, as are the Warren, Oregon headquartered McNulty Water Association, which serves some 700 families in Columbia County, Oregon west of St. Helens, Oregon and McNulty Way in St. Helens, Oregon.
  • McNulty Reservoir Dam in Eagle County, Colorado, named after Colorado's McNulty family cattle ranchers, who settled in Eagle County, Colorado, in the 1880s, eventually, operating a 2500-acre cattle ranch there near Leadville, Colorado
  • McNulty Reservoir (Malheur County, Oregon), named after the Northwest US pioneer John McNulty.
  • Downtown McNulty Station in St. Petersburg, Florida is named after John T. McNulty, who became Chief of the St. Petersburg Fire Department in the year 1913.
  • Upper McNulty Reservoir in Oregon, US, named after Columbia River pioneer John McNulty.

McNulty rhyolite

Found in a single location on the earth's surface, that is McNulty Gulch near Leadville Colorado, McNulty rhyolite is a comparatively rare gem rock quality variety of rhyolite rock. McNulty rhyolite appears in the official U.S. Department of Interior, United States Geological Survey Lexicon of Geological Names of the United States.

Nulty

This is a variant of McNulty. Notable bearers of the name are:

References

References

  1. Robert Bell. (2003). "The book of Ulster Surnames". The Blackstaff Press.
  2. Neafsey, Edward. (2002). "The Surnames of Scotland: Origins and Numbers of Selected Irish Surnames". Irish Roots.
  3. Robert Bell. (2003). "The book of Ulster Surnames". The Blackstaff Press.
  4. Paul B. McNulty. "Origin of the Surname, McNulty, and its Association with the McDonlevys/Dunleavys of County Down".
  5. P. Hanks. (1988). "A Dictionary of Surnames". Oxford University Press.
  6. Patrick Woulfe. (1967). "Irish Names and Surnames". Genealogical Publishing Company, in Irish and English.
  7. (1995). "Encyclopedia of American Family Names". New England Publishing Associates, Inc. (Harper Collins).
  8. P. Hanks and F. Hodges. (1988). "A Dictionary of Surnames". Oxford University Press.
  9. (2025-08-07). "North (surname)". Wikipedia.
  10. (1981). "Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, in 3 volumes with subsequent annual bound supplements". Gale Research Company.
  11. (1979). "New World Immigrants, in 2 volumes". Genealogical Publishing Co.
  12. (1977). "Ship Passenger Lists, National and New England (1600–1825)". Boyer.
  13. (1983). "The Famine Immigrants - Lists of Irish Immigrants Arriving at the Port of New York, 1846–1851, in multiple volumes". Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc..
  14. (1981). "Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, in 3 volumes with subsequent annual bound supplements". Gale Research Company.
  15. "McNulty Stats".
  16. "Australia Joint Copying Project, microfilm roll 92, class piece number HO 11/15, page number 11 (7) from British convict transport registers 1787-1867 data base compiled by State Library of Queensland from British Home Office, ''China'' departed Scotland 3 January 1846".
  17. "Mid-Atlantic Superstar Wrestling Results - Ivan Koloff".
  18. James, E.T., James, J.W., and Boyer, P.S. (Eds). ''Notable American Woman 1607-1950 A Biographical Dictionary'' (Vol. 1 A-F). 1971 Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, p. 352
  19. [https://www.imdb.com/character/ch0066577/filmoseries#tt0460084] {{dead link. (October 2023)
  20. A.H. Koschmann and M.H. Bergendahl ''Principal Gold Producing Districts of the United States'' (Geological Survey Professional Paper 610) Washington: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (1968) (Library of Congress catalog-card no. GS 68-341) p 117
  21. "Southpinellas: Fire chief respected after embers cool".
  22. ''Lexicon of Geological Names of the United States (Including Alaska)'' Part 2 M-Z (Geological Survey Bulletin 896) Mary Grace Wilmarth, compiler, p. 1260, United States Dept. of Interior, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office (1938) (Univ. of Mich., Digitized 18 February 2010)

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