The older anglicized form found in the Armagh and Monaghan hearth money rolls is MacIlvallelly, clearly indicating a surname of the Mac Giolla type. In Connacht Varilly is recorded as a synonym of Vallelly. Woulfe regards this as a different name, giving Mac an Bhearshúiligh as the Gaelic-Irish form, which must be accepted with reserve. SIF 150

This name is quite numerous in Co. Armagh but rare elsewhere, though it is found in Co. Galway and I have met an isolated case of it in Co. Clare. As might be expected it is a name which lends itself to spelling variants: including these there were 18 birth registrations in 1866 and 9 in 1890, almost all in or near Co. Armagh. Woulfe did not know the Irish form of the name; and Mac Giolla Domhnaigh says it is Mac Imhailale, mentioning that a seventeenth century anglicization of it was MacEvallely.

I question this because the forms found in the Armagh and in the Monaghan Hearth Money Rolls of 1664-1665 are MacIlvallely, MacIlvelluly and the like, while in the “census” of 1659-60 MacIlvalluly is given as one of the principal Irish names in Co. Armagh. The 11in these is undoubtedly an abbreviation of Giolla. To go further than Macgiolla would be guess work on my part at this stage. The Gaelic form given by Mac Giolla Domhnaigh is probably an attempt to write it phonetically as he heard it and cannot be regarded as authentic; he does, however, tell us the interesting fact that the numerous Vallelly families living in the parish of Ballymyre, Derrynoose, Kilclooney and Lisnadill (all in south County Armagh), though in many cases unrelated, have one thing in common, namely that the great majority of the people so called are red- or sandy-haired.

In Connacht Vallelly and Varrilly have been reported by the local registrars as in use synonymously in the Clifden and Westport districts. According to Woulfe, Varrilly, Verrelly and Varley are anglicized forms of Mac an Bhearshuiligh. Varrily is certainly a Connacht name. In the Connacht birth registrations for 1865 there are 14 Varillys (no variants) but no Vallally. Further confusion may possibly arise from the fact that Varrelly has also been used as a synonym of Farrelly.

The older anglicized form found in the Armagh and Monaghan hearth money rolls is MacIlvallelly, clearly indicating a surname of the Mac Giolla type. In Connacht Varilly is recorded as a synonym of Vallelly. Woulfe regards this as a different name, giving Mac an Bhearshúiligh as the Gaelic-Irish form, which must be accepted with reserve. SIF 150