Aulay is a Scottish masculine given name. It is an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic Amhladh,[1] Amhlaidh,[1] Amhlaigh, and Amhlaibh.[2] The standard Irish Gaelic form of these names is Amhlaoibh (pronounced [ˈəulˠiːvʲ],[1] Munster Irish: [ˈəulˠiː]);[3] which can be Anglicised as Auliffe[1] and Humphrey.[4]
The Old Irish personal name Amlaíb is a Gaelicised form of the Old Norse Óláfr, and is recorded in the Annals of Ulster as being introduced into Ulster by "Amlaíb, son of the king of Lochlann"[5][6] In the 9th century, Óláfr may have been pronounced more like the Old Norse Áleifr.[7]AClassical Gaelic form of this Old Irish name is Amhlaíbh.
The older Irish Gaelic names Amalgaid[4] and Amhalghaidh[4] (pronounced "owl-ghee"),[3] were borne by an early king of Munster, and an early king of Connacht. Even though these names were of a different origin than the above Gaelicised Norse names, they were "totally confused" in the later Middle Ages with them.[4] In later times, Amalgaid and Amhalghaidh were Anglicised as Auley; as well as Awley, which was a spelling commonly used by the Magawleys of Calry.[4]
In the Irish counties of Antrim and Armagh, Amley is found as a variant of Aulay or Auley and gives rise to the surname MacAmley or Macamley.[8]
Hugh Kenner (1989) has argued that the name Amloði (the Old Icelandic form of the name Hamlet) originates with the Irish form Amhlaoibh.[9]
