This interesting surname is of Old Gaelic origin, and is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic "O'Maoileoin", composed of the Gaelic prefix "O", male descendant of, and "Maoileoin", devotee or follower of St. John. The surname is never found in English with the prefix "O". The Malones are an ancient sept, associated with the O'Connors of Connacht, and their principal family was for centuries associated with the Abbey of Clonmacnois to which they furnished many abbots and bishops, as Clonmacnois was an independent see before being united with Ardagh. Unlike most old Irish septs the name is not found to any great extent in their place of origin. Three Malones sat in the Parliament of 1689, three served in King James 11's army in Ireland, and eight were attainted in 1691. Elizabeth Malone married George Kenedie at St. John the Evangelist, Dublin, on October 29th 1623. Anthony Malone (1700 - 1776) was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his brother Edmund (1704 - 1776) was an Irish M.P. and judge. A Coat of Arms granted to the family depicts a gold lion rampant between three silver mullets on a green field, with the Motto, "Fideis ad urnam" (Faithful to the tomb). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rev. William Malone (1586 - 1659), Superior of the Jesuit Mission in Ireland, which was dated circa 1600, in the "Annals of Clonmacnoise", County Offaly, Ireland, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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