Signifies the Military Belt - represents Honour
Azure (Blue) Strength, Loyalty
 Argent (Silver or White) Sincerity, Peace
 Gules (Red) Warrior, Martyr, Military Strength
Fierce Courage .
In Ireland the Lion represented the 'lion' season, prior to the full arrival of Summer. The symbol can also represent a great Warrior or Chief.

Hope of glory, one who has been enlightened. Sign of the second son.

Wise defense

                     Sun Glory, Splendour, Authority.
In Ireland the Celts worshiped the sun as well as other celestial bodies. The invocation of the sun would be the same as invoking truth.

Military strength, fortitude
Gules (Red) Warrior, Martyr, Military Strength
 Argent (Silver or White) Sincerity, Peace
Of Regal origin, one of high nature.

In Ireland the Fish is associated with the legend of Fionn who became the first to taste the 'salmon of knowledge'. The Celtic 'Otherworld' was often a place of water, a lake or sea, where would dwell Gods represented by fish.
Skillful, Politic, lover of harmony.
In Ireland the Stag was one of the most ancient of charges and was regarded as the most handsome. The Stag represents the very ancestors of the Celtic race.

Wise defense


The surname Delaney, and its variations, are the Anglicisation of two different surnames, the Gaelic Ó Dubhshláine, and De l'aunaie of Norman origins. The Norman name means “from the alder grove”, and the Gaelic comes from the words “dubh”, meaning black, and “slán”, meaning defiant. The surname is strongly associated with counties Laois and Kilkenny in the eastern province of Leinster.

Delaney - About 1150 A.D. the northern section of Ossory (Co. Laois) held the sept of Ua Dubhslaine (O'Delany or O'Dulany) of Coill Uachtarach who were noted as chiefs of Tuath-an-Toraidh. Delany is a surname never seen today with the prefix O which probably belongs to it. It is O Dubhshlainte in Irish, Delaney being a phonetic rendering of this - the A of Delaney was formerly pronounced broad. An earlier anglicized form was O'Dulany e.g. Felix O'Dulany, Bishop of Ossory from 1178 to 1202, who built St. Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny. Dubh means black and slainte is topographical - Slaney in English. If it refers to the river Slaney it suggests that this sept originally possessed a wider territory than that usually assigned to it, namely Coilluachtarach (now Upperwoods) at the foot of Slieve Bloom near the source of the rivers Nore and Barrow in Co. Leix. At the present time the name is chiefly associated with Counties Leix and Kilkenny and in 1659, when Petty's census was made, it appears as a principal Irish name in four baronies of Queen's County (now Leix) and in five of Co. Kilkenny. It is sometimes abbreviated to Delane in Co. Mayo, and this was the form used by Dennis Delane (d. 1750), the celebrated Dublin and London actor. Dillane, however, is not a synonym of Delany, but the anglicized form of O'Duilleain, a Co. Limerick surname, sometimes disguised as Dillin. Dean Patrick Delany (1684-1768), the friend of Dean Swift, was a Leix man. His wife, the famous Mary Delany (1700-1788), was also prominent in the Swift circle. Michael Roland ("Ronny") Delaney, champion athlete who brought honours to Ireland in the 1956 Olympic Games, is a Dubliner. The 1659 census notes Dulany as a principal Irish name in the Co. Kilkenny baronies of Crannagh, Skillellogher, Fassagh Deinin, Galmoy, and Gowran. The 1890 census for Kilkenny noted 14 births in that year for the surname Delaney

Notes for O ' D UBHSHLAINE :
Dubh is Irish Gaelic for black, Slan means Challenge. The Shield upon which the crest resides is known as a pale, which means military strength, fortitude. The two outer verticals are Gules (red) signifying warrior, military strength and martyrdom, the inner vertical is of Argent (white or silver) signifies sincerity and peace. The fish, in heraldry signifies regal origin.
About 1150 A.D. the northern section of Ossory (Co. Laois) held the sept of Ua Dubhslaine (O'Delany or O'Dulany) of Coill Uachtarach who were noted as chiefs of Tuath-an-Toraidh. Delany is a surname never seen today with the prefix O which probably belongs to it. It is O Dubhshlainte in Irish, Delaney being a phonetic rendering of this - the A of Delaney was formerly pronounced broad. An earlier anglicized form was O'Dulany e.g. Felix O'Dulany, Bishop of Ossory from 1178 to 1202, who built St. Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny. Dubh means black and slainte means challenge. Coilluachtarach (now Upperwoods) at the foot of Slieve Bloom Mountains near the source of the rivers Nore and Barrow in Co. Leix. At the present time the name is chiefly associated with Counties Leix and Kilkenny and in 1659, when Petty's census was made, it appears as a principal Irish name in four baronies of Queen's County (now Leix) and in five of Co. Kilkenny. It is sometimes abbreviated to Delane in Co. Mayo, and this was the form used by Dennis Delane (d. 1750), the celebrated Dublin and London actor. Dillane, however, is not a synonym of Delany, but the anglicized form of O'Duilleain, a Co. Limerick surname, sometimes disguised as Dillin. Dean Patrick Delany (1684-1768), the friend of Dean Swift, was a Leix man. His wife, the famous Mary Delany (1700-1788), was also prominent in the Swift circle. Michael Roland ("Ronny") Delaney, champion athlete who brought honours to Ireland in the 1956 Olympic Games, is a Dubliner. The 1659 census notes Dulany as a principal Irish name in the Co. Kilkenny baronies of Crannagh, Skillellogher, Fassagh Deinin, Galmoy, and Gowran. The 1890 census for Kilkenny noted 14 births in that year for the surname Delaney
It is said the family goes back to Celtic King Hermon who resided in county Kilkenny at Rathbega, son of King Melosuis of Galicia, who emigrated to Ireland in 1000 BC. Galicia encompassed the southern region of France (Normandy) and the upper Iberian Peninsula (Spain).
Speculation is that Thomas was son of Gideon DeLaune, son of the Duke of Normandy and a crony of William of Orange. I do not subscribe to this theory, the sept name being much older.
Irish, Anglicized form, influenced by the Norman name of Gael. O'Dubhshlaine "descendant of dubhshlaine", a personal name composed of the elements dubh black (c.f.Duff) and Slan challenge, defiance.
Variations: Delany, Delaun(e)y, Deleaney, Delaunoy,Delauney, O'Dulaney. See also Dolan


The cantred of Aghaboe, aka Upper Ossory, included the traditional lands of the Ui Duach. About 1150 A.D. the northern section of Aghaboe held the septs of the Ua Dubhslaine (O'Delany) of Coill Uachtarach (barony of Upper Woods, Co. Leix), chiefs of Tuath-an-Toraidh, as well as the Ua hUrachan (O'Hourahan) of Ui Fairchellain (parish of Offerlane in Co. Leix) The southern section was occupied by the septs of the the Ua Bruaideodha (O'Broe, or O'Brody), as well as branches of the Ua Faelain (O'Phelan). The Fitzpatrick (Mac Giolla Phadraig) clan were noted in Upper Ossory, particularly following the Norman settlement, and later became earls of Upper Ossory.