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My ggg grandfather was a Peter O'Melia born in late 1700's, and lived to age 104, born in County Mayo,Ireland, died in Canada in 1870's. He was listed on the Canadian census in 1851 as a weaver. His name was spelled all sorts of ways on census in Canada. His son, born in 1830's in Ireland, and emigrated with family in 1842 from Mayo to Canada, had a son, born in Canada in 1868. This man moved to the USA when he was 19. I followed through on his story, and the family continued to use O'Melia...never changed to "O'Malley". This grandson of Peter was quite successful in his city and his profession. I believe that this spelling is the spelling that his father and grandfather chose or new to be their tradition. I've seen more O'Malley's names around the world, but it was due to the English influence in Ireland, the determination to deter Catholics in Ireland from maintaining their culture etc. So I am going by this spelling...I am told by an Irish speaking person, that the pronunciation would be as "O mahl-yuh". No more O Mal lee, for me LOL!