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O'Buhilly, Buckley
The Irish surname O'Buachalla (derived from the Gaelic work Buachal a boy) is usually anglicized Buckley. Buckley is of course a common English name, but it is safe to say that few Irish-looking forms Boughla and Buhilly are used in one are of Co. Offaly. It is not, however, numerous in that part of Ireland now, though it was in mediaeval times; and in 1659 it appears in Petty's census as an Irish principal name in the barony of Ballycowan as Bohelly. A family of Buckley or Buhilly resident at Lemanaghan, Co. Offaly, claimed to be descendants of the cowherd of St. Manahan and hereditary bearers of his shrine, the custodians of which were the O'Mooneys (q.v.p. 129 infra). As Bouhilly it was numerous at the same date in Iffa and Offa, I.e. the south western corner of Co. Tipperary. The variant spellings of Bohelly and Bucaile both occur in the returns of Irish Jacobites outlawed after the defeat of James II.
William Buckley (1768-1793), who was guillotined for his prominent part in the royalist counter-revolution, was born at Clonmel and apparently his real name was Buckley. The famous family of Bulkely in France was, however, according to O'Callaghan, of English origin.
To-day the name Buckley is chiefly found in Counties Cork and Kerry: eighty per cent of the large number of births recorded for the name (it has a place in the hundred commonest Irish surnames) are in Munster.
The American botanist, Samuel Buckley (1809-1883), was possibly of Irish origin, though he was a Wesleyan. The last Governor-General of the Irish Free State was Donal O Buachalla.