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MacNEILL, MacGreal
The MacNeills of Antrim and Derry are the descendants of the Scottish Gaels from the Western Isles who settled in the north of Ireland long before the time of the Plantation of Ulster. MacNeill and MacQuillan, chiefs of territory in Clandeboy, are recorded in the Annals as submitting to Con O'Neill in 1471. The first of them came as galloglasses and as such they were employed as far west as the borders of Connacht at least as early as 1346 when, according to the Four Masters MacNeill cam, a Scottish galloglass captain, was killed in the service of O'Rourke. Most of the MacNeills today are Protestants, as were Dean Hugh MacNeill (1795-1879), the noted Antrim-born anti-Catholic preacher in England, Sir John Benjamin MacNeill (1793-1880) builder of Irish railways, and John G. Swift MacNeill (1849-1926) M.P. Professor in the National University and author of many historical and constitutional works.
In the Glens of Antriin they remained Catholic, from there came Eoin MacNeill, the distinguished historian who was co-founder of the Gaelic League.
The use of the form MacReill (later MacGreal) for MacNeill presents no difficulty - the transition from internal N to R is not abnormal, (cf. MacNeilis - MacGrelish or Luimneach - Limerick). Both names appeared as aliases in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the Mayo Book of Survey and Distribution which shows many 1641 proprietors of the name.
MacNeill is one of the few names identical in Irish and English (except that in Irish the E is accented). MacGreal is Mac Réill or more often Mag Réill.