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In fact, the name Early in Ireland has dual origin (see extract below). It first in a recognisable form as Erley in Kilkenny and was undoubtedly of Norman origin - probably via England. An indigenous Irish name, Ó Maolmocheirghe, eventually became anglisised as Early, but probably not before the 17th century. This kinf of dual origin (and oftem triple or quadruple) is not at all unusual in Ireland. Many "foreign" names were introduced to the country over successive invasions by Vikings, Normans and English. Many further English and Scottish names were introduced during various plantation campaigns. Finally, a good number were introduced through normal interaction - especially with Scotland. For example a person named Thorton in Ireland may be a member of any the Irish septs Drennan, Skehan, Meenagh or Tarrant; or a descendant of an English Elizbethan settler; or a descendant of a Scottish Planter. Nothing is simple with most Irish surnames. What is almost certain in the case of the name Early is that any occurance of it in that form prior to the 17th century, probably indicates Anglo-Norman origin.
(from More Irish Families - MacLysaght)
EARLY, 0'Mulmohery
The form O'Mulmohery, given above, is I think almost obsolete now: the Irish surname Ó Maolmocheirghe was phonetically so anglicized at first, then abbreviated to Mulmoher. There is not one entry in the birth indices for the three years 1864 to 1866 for O'Mulmohery or Mulmoher. The substitution of Early and Earley for these by a kind of translation - moch means early and eirghe rising - took place during the period of Gaelic submergence in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The family is notable as an ecclesiastical one: they were coarbs of Drumlane, Co. Cavan, and of Drumreilly, Co. Leitrim. As well as these coarbs, the Four Masters mention a bishop of Breffny (Kilmore) and an abbot of Kells (Co. Meath) in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries whose name in O'Donovan's translation is given as 0'Mulmoghery. In the Composition Book of Connacht (1585) it is O'Mulmoher: the important family so called was seated in Co. Leitrim, which modern statistics show to be the chief homeland of the Earlys today. In the Jacobite attainders of Co. Leitrim the name is spelt Mulvogherry. A branch of the sept was also established in Co. Donegal: in 1659 there were several families of O'Mulmoghery in the baronies of Banagh and Boylagh (west Donegal) and there are priests of the name, in one form or another, in the records of the diocese of Raphoe.
The Prior of Kells (Co. Kilkenny) in 1361 was Robert Erley and as early as 1305 the place-name Erleystown in Co. Tipperary is on record. At that time the use of Early as an anglicized form of a Gaelic surname was unknown and the Erleys of Kilkenny and Tipperary were of Norman origin, as is evident from the fact that they were often called d'Erley.
Dr. John Early S.J. (1814-1874) founder of St. Ignatius College, Worcester, Mass., was of the 0'Mulmohery sept. General Early of the Confederate army in the American Civil War, who, after several successful engagements was eventually defeated by an Irishman, General Sheridan, at Winchester and Hatchers River, was not of an Irish family.
It appears that 0'Mulmoghery was first abbreviated to O'Mohery in Co. Armagh and subsequently "translated" as Fields, from the mistaken belief that Moghery represented the Irish word machaire, a plain or extensive field.
One peculiar synonym of the name Loughrane is recorded by Matheson for the Dungannon district, where Loughran and Early were both used by members of the same family. Loughran was connected popularly with Loughrey; and since Loughrey, he says, is, Ó Luatheirghigh (i.e. descendant of the early riser) Early, Mohery etc., became confused with Loughrey and Loughran. Normally, however, Loughrey is Ó Luachra.
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