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Meaning & History
The Irish surname Mulkerin is an anglicied rendering of the Gaelic surname O'Maoilchiarain which means ,literally, "descendant of a follower of Saint Ciaran", the Irish saint who founded the great monastery at Clonmacnois. The O'Maoilchiarains were erenaghs of Ardcarne in County Roscommon. The erenagh or aircheannach was initially the administrator of a monastery on behalf of the saintly founder but by the eleventh century he had become a lay lord whose family held the office and church lands from generation to generation. Bearers of the name are most numerous in the counties of Roscommon and Galway in Connacht, they are also able to be in Ulster where a brach of the family settled in County Donegal.