Killelea

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Killelea is an Irish surname found originally in Galway and Roscommon. The name may mean either "church in a meadow" or "son of the grey servant". The current spelling may be an Anglicization of an older Irish name starting like "Cil..." but the original Irish spelling has been lost. Variant spellings include Killilea, Killalea, and Kellelea.

There are approximately 1000 Killeleas in the US and a similar number in Australia, with smaller numbers in Ireland, England, and Tasmania. The Australian Killeleas are descendants of a convict, one of the "Kiltormer Four" who murdered two brothers in western Ireland in the mid-1800s. The American Killeleas seem to fall into three groups: those near Ottawa, Illinois, those near Boston, Massachusetts, and those in the deep south.

There is an Australian state park named for the first Killelea in Australia.

[edit] See also

• Steve Killelea
• Killelea State Park

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