Recorded in many forms including MacNulty, McNulty, MacAnulty, McAnalty, McCinnulty, McConnulty, McInility, and possibly others, this is a surname of Irish origins. It is derived from the pre 10th century Gaelic Mac an Ultaigh meaning the "son of the Ulsterman", a regional locational name. Curously there does not appear to be any similar name for the provinces of Munster, Leinster and Connaught. The clan belongs today as they have done since the inception of surnames, to County Donegal in north-west Ulster. This area claims to be the most Irish part of Ireland. The surname dates back to the late 13th Century (see below), and early recordings include the occasion in 1431 when O'Donnells are recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters as making a predatory expedition against the Mac Nultys of Tirhugh, County Donegal. From Derry, on the border of County Donegal, came Frank Joseph Mac Nulty (1872 - 1926), American labour leader, whose father Owen MacNulty was a veteran of the Civil War. Church recordings include Patricium McAnulty who was christened on December 15th 1758 in Drogheda, County Louth, whilst Mary McCinnulty who was a famine emigrant who left Ireland on the ship "Yorkshire" on September 15th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Teag MacNulty who was among the "distinguished slain" at the Battle of Desertcreagh in 1281.Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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