Niall Noígíallach

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Niall Noigiallach, a seminal figure in early Irish history, is the seventh great-grandson of Conn Cetchathach and Eithne Thaebfhota ('of the Long Side'), daughter of King Cathair Mor. Eithne is described as a remarkable woman who became queen to two kings of different generations.

According to tradition, Conn and Eithne had four known children:

- Art mac Cuinn, married Achtan and fathered Cormac mac Airt.

- Connla, who departed with a fairy woman.

- Sadb ingen Chuinn, 1st married Macnia mac Lugdach (mother of Lugaid mac Con), then Ailill Aulom (mother of Eogan Mor).

- Cormac mac Airt, with Eithne Ollamda, fathered Cairbre Lifechair, who with Aine (daughter of Fionn Mac Cumhaill) bore Fiacha Sroiptine and Eochaid Doimlen.

Fiacha Sroiptine's son, Muiredach Tirech, fathered Colla Uais, Colla Fo Chri, and Colla Menn. Together, they established the Airgialla confederation - a medieval over-kingdom made up of nine independent minor kingdoms. These kingdoms paid nominal allegiance to an overking, most often from the dominant dynasty.

Airgialla at its peak encompassed areas of modern Counties Armagh, Monaghan, Louth, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Londonderry, with Armagh and Clogher as major towns. Its cultural legacy endures in southeastern Ulster and parts of County Louth.

Eochaid Mugmedon, son of Muiredach Tirech, had children with two women:

- With Mongfind: Brion, Fiachrae, and Ailill and then with Cairenn: Niall Noigiallach and Fergus.

Niall Noigiallach, from whom the Ui Neill dynasties descend, became one of Ireland's most enduring High Kings. His title, 'of the Nine Hostages,' reflects his broad political reach, with hostages taken from across Ireland and Britain.

My ancestry reconnects with this lineage through Donough O'Quin of Kilmallock, County Limerick, the 123rd name in the Lords of Thomond pedigree. From this point, genetic atDNA testing confirms shared ancestry with the families of the Earls of Dunraven and Mount Earl, supported by documented matches to their wives' maiden names.

These surnames may not sound like Quinn but are genetically or clan-associated with the same Irish tribes or septs:

• O’Brien – of the Dalcassians, same group as the Clare Quinns.
• MacNamara, O’Grady, Moloney – all related Dalcassian families.
• McInerney – another Dalcassian family near the Quinns of Inchiquin.
• O'Neill - The O’Neill surname is one of the most famous and historically significant names in Irish history. It derives from a powerful and ancient Gaelic dynasty that produced kings, warriors, and nobles who shaped the political and cultural landscape of Ireland for over a millennium.

• Irish form: Ó Néill
• Meaning: "Descendant of Niall"
• The name is derived from Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), a legendary 5th-century High King of Ireland and progenitor of the Uí Néill dynasty.
• The name Niall likely means "champion" or "cloud."

• One of the most dominant Gaelic dynasties in Ireland, claiming descent from Niall Noígíallach where their surname evolved from Cuinn is divided into two branches:  
  • Northern Uí Néill – centered in Ulster, particularly in modern Tyrone (Tír Eoghain) and Donegal.
  • Southern Uí Néill – influential in Meath, Westmeath, and parts of Leinster.
  • The O’Neills of Tyrone
• Became Kings of Tír Eoghain (Tyrone) and High Kings of Ireland at various times.
• Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone (1550–1616) was one of the most prominent leaders of Irish resistance during the Nine Years' War against English rule. His defeat led to the Flight of the Earls in 1607 and marked the end of Gaelic aristocracy in Ireland.

• After the Flight of the Earls, much O’Neill land was confiscated in the Plantation of Ulster, part of England’s colonization of Ireland.
• The O’Neill legacy lived on in Irish nationalism and romanticized history.

• Ulster: Especially County Tyrone, Armagh, and Donegal – stronghold of the O’Neills.
• Leinster and Midlands: Related Uí Néill families (especially the Southern Uí Néill) had deep influence in Meathand surrounding counties.
• Some O’Neill families also settled in Munster later in history.

Due to anglicization and regional dialects, several variants exist:Variant Notes O’Neill Standard modern Irish version O'Neal Common in the U.S. and Britain.  Neill, Often a shortened form Neal / Neale / Neill / McNeill. Related names; McNeill especially in Scotland and parts of Ulster as Ó Néill Original Gaelic, spelling Ua Néill Older Gaelic form used in medieval texts.

Today, Quinn is a very common surname in Ireland, especially in Ulster and Clare, and it spread significantly through emigration to the United States, Canada, Australia, and Britain.

Niall Noígíallach, or Niall of the Nine Hostages, was a legendary, semi-historical Irish king who was the ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties that dominated Ireland from the 6th to the 10th centuries. Historical Irish annalistic and chronicle sources place his reign in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, but modern scholars date him about half a century later. 
Niall is presumed, based on the importance of his sons and grandsons, to have been a historical person, but the early Irish annals say little about him: The Annals of Inisfallen date his death before 382CE, and the Chronicon Scotorum to 411CE. The later Annals of the Four Masters dates his reign to 379–405CE, and the chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn to 368–395CE.

However, the early annals record the activities of his sons between 429 and 516CE, an implausibly long period for a single generation, leading scholars like Kathleen Hughes and Francis J. Byrne conclude that the events of the later half of the 5th century have been extended backwards to accommodate as early a date as possible for the arrival of Saint Patrick, with the effect of pushing Niall back up to half a century. Hughes says "Niall himself must have died not before the middle of the fifth century".Byrne, following James Carney, is a little more precise, dating his death to c. 452CE.

Niall is placed in the traditional list of High Kings of Ireland. However, the traditional roll of kings and its chronology is now recognised as artificial. The High Kingship did not become a reality until the 9th century, and Niall's status has probably been inflated in line with the political importance of the dynasty he founded. T. F. O'Rahilly argues that Niall and his sons were responsible for the breakup of the ancient kingdom of Ulster and the creation of the kingdoms of Tír Chonaill and Tír Eoghain, and the satellite kingdom of the Airgíalla.: 222–232  O'Rahilly and Byrne argue that the literary sources, though late and garbled, preserve genuine traditions that Niall led raids on Britain, and perhaps died on one.

Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgáin seems to indicate that Niall was probably a descendant of the Gaulish seafaring tribe of the Veneti, who originated in south-east Armorica (modern Brittany, France). Some of these sailors probably migrated to Cornwall, and later to south-eastern Ireland where they became known as the Venii and grew in power. They worshipped a ram god and sometimes called themselves Ghaisonli ('spear-men'), possibly to compete in propaganda with the Lagini ('lance-men').

The southern Venii came to be known as the Eoghanacht, while another group of them migrated north and formed a new kingdom west of the River Shannon where they became known as the Connachta after a revered leader named Conn. These Connachta later extended their power eastward into the plain of Meath, and under the leader Teutovalos Teachtmhar overthrew the kingship of the Lagini at Tara around 300CE.

As the Celtic language in Ireland transformed into Irish between 400–500CE, Venii became Féni, and were also known to have called themselves Gaídhil (from Common Celtic *wēdelos, Brythonic gwddel, Goidelic *wēdus to Old Irish Goídel—meaning savage woodsman, wild, raider). The Primitive Irish Vendo is a cognate with Finn, and the Fianna were landless, aristocratic young men and women who had not yet come into their inheritance of land. Niall, the son of Ivocatus Magumedonus ('Eochaidh the Slave-ruler'), came to lead the Connachta in the fifth century CE.

An STR known as R-M222 was first recognized in late 2004 following manual cluster analysis of several hundred R-M269 haplotypes in ySearch ran by Gene by Gene.  

In Family Tree DNA's research, a preliminary modal haplotype was established including the basis for roughly six dozen similar haplotypes. They noted that family names associated with the cluster were almost entirely Irish or Scottish. The cluster was initially referred to as the 25/11/14 cluster based on the dominant values for DYS390, 391 and 392. 

In late 2005, a research team from Trinity College Dublin published a report that identified this cluster based on the distinctive values at DYS390 and 392. The research team called this pattern the Irish Modal Haplotype, or IMH, and provocatively suggested that the haplotype may be associated with the Ui Neill kings of Northern Ireland and Donegal that by legend descended from the fifth century warlord Neill Ó Cuinn or by his alias Niall Noígíallach. The haplotype is not modal to Ireland, though a distinctive haplotype with a large population, it is not the dominant one.  Some haplotype frequency assessments suggested that it was most concentrated in Donegal  and nearby counties to the south and west. Also found in Lowland Scotland and the Western Isles.

In February of 2006, one of the administrators (DCW aka David Wilson) predicted that this distinctive variety would be found to correlate with the rarely tested SNP M222 and commissioned a custom lab analysis to test the hypothesis. The result, returned in March 2006, was positive. Immediately afterwards different labs began offering M222 as part of deep clade testing programs, and thousands of individuals have now been found positive for the SNP marker, M222. In recent years, the new options of next generation and whole genome sequencing and SNP panel testing have led to the recognition of numerous downstream subdivisions divisions that seem to have emerged between roughly 2000 and 1200 ybp (Years Before Present, in which “Present” is defined as 1950). There is uncertainty about the age of the M222 SNP itself, because the SNP marker in phylogeny is accompanied by many SNPs and variants (23 and more).  The order of mutation or position in phylogeny for these markers has not been revealed through testing thus far; hence where the M222 SNP is positioned in phylogeny is unknown.  TMRCA estimates in both STRs and SNPs using various methods from several differing sources infer subdivision within the descending UK/Ireland R-M222 population between 2500 and 2000 ybp.

The southern Venii came to be known as the Eoghanacht, while another group of them migrated north and formed a new kingdom west of the River Shannon where they became known as the Connachta after a revered leader named Conn. These Connachta later extended their power eastward into the plain of Meath, and under the leader Teutovalos Teachtmhar overthrew the kingship of the Lagini at Tara around AD 300. As the Celtic language in Ireland transformed into Irish between AD 400–500, Venii became Féni, and were also known to have called themselves Gaídhil (from Common Celtic *wēdelos, Brythonic gwddel, Goidelic *wēdus to Old Irish Goídel—meaning savage woodsman, wild, raider). The Primitive Irish Vendo is a cognate with Finn, and the Fianna were landless, aristocratic young men and women who had not yet come into their inheritance of land. Niall, the son of Ivocatus Magumedonus ('Eochaidh the Slave-ruler'), came to lead the Connachta in the fifth century CE.

I do not believe Niall Noígíallach was an Irish king who lived during the late 4th or 5th centuries as a High King. He is indeed a descendant of Conn and listed in the genealogies of Art mac Cuinn, the 1st to use the surname Cuinn in such a manner as it is today.  He is credited as the father to sons who sired the Ui Neill dynasty.  The 2006 TCD inferences regarding IMH and the Ui Neill dynasty led to assumptions that all men derived for the marker R-M222 were descended from this legendary semi-mythological Irish King. Whether or not Niall's legendary reputation is legitimate or that he was ancestrally responsible for the Ui Neill dynasty has been the subject of historical reviews for many hundreds of years.  The question this project has wrestled with post the TCD publications is whether or not Niall was the progenitor responsible for the R-M222 marker and the descending subclades.

Next generation sequencing efforts have settled the question for us.  The haplogroup existed long before Niall.  The marker R-M222 sits among a block of more than 23 variants that are  considered presently phylo-equivalent; so described because we do not yet know the order in which these markers mutated.  We also do not know where in the order the R-M222 marker is positioned....at the top, middle, bottom of the block etc.  Aging estimates suggest that the entire haplogroup known as R-M222 (including this phylo-equivalent block in which the marker sits) may be as old as 4000 or more years before present (ybp).

We also do not know what Niall's genotype was/is.  There were other haplogroups and L21 subclades contemporary with R-M222 in Ireland during Niall's and Ui Neill dynasty clans'/founders/leaders reputed times of living.  In 2013 the haplogroup began subdivision.  Below the phylo-equivalent block, the subclades exampled a larger and more diverse haplogroup than anticipated by observation of the STR haplotypes.   The ages of some of the older haplogroups have been tentatively and imprecisely assessed in windows extending from 2500 -- 1500 ybp.  The testing has been elective and consists primarily of men in multiples of surnames claiming differing ancestral geographies, the majority who descend from ancestors that migrated out of the UK/Ireland region to diaspora destinations of the American Colonies/US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand among others.  Some of the results are anchored by men in current residence within various geographies within the UK/Ireland region.  While the majority of testers have stated ancestral origins in the UK/Ireland region, ancestral origin statements are not confined solely to the region; there are stated ancestral origins in Scandinavia, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, among other geographies.  Within recent years skeletal remains yielding DNA that may be sequenced have been recovered.  Radio Carbon Dating has determined for those recovered in Ireland suggest that the majority of remains genotyped with a M222 subclade marker date to the Medieval period.  I am NOT a part of this SNP group as I tested negative with the BigY-700 at Family Tree DNA. 

 “Quod Sors Feret Feremus” – “What fortune brings, we will endure.”