Julia Whelan

The family name Whelan is an anglicisation of the Irish surname Ó Faoláin. The surname originates from the Middle Irish Úa Faeláin (plural Uí Faeláin) the name of the 10th to 11th century ruling dynasty of the Déisi, a population group inhabiting the area of the modern counties of Waterford and Kilkenny in the Early Middle Ages. The word faolán is derived from the Old Irish word faelán meaning a young (small) wolf; -án being of the diminutive suffix in Irish. Ó (anglicised as O') derives from t…