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History of our Name Glancy derives from the old Irish name MacFhlannchaidh but is probably more common nowadays as Clancy. Mac Fhlannchaidh comes from the personal name Flannchadh, which, it is thought, meant ‘red (or ruddy) warrior’. If you pronounce it with a silent 'F' you get something like 'Maclanchy'. With the Mac being dropped over time you are left with a name which sounds like Clanchy, which becomes Clancy and then Glancy! It originated separately in two different areas, in counties Clare and Leitrim. In the former, where they were a branch of the McNamaras, their eponymous ancestor being Flannchadh Mac Conmara, the Clancys formed part of the great Dal gCais tribal group, and acted as hereditary lawyers, or ‘brehons’, to the O’Brien chieftains. Their homeland was in the barony of Corcomroe in north Clare (the place name Cahermacclancy locates the area), and they remained prominent among the Gaelic aristocracy until the final collapse of that institution in the seventeenth century. The Leitrim family of the name were based in the Rosclogher area of the county, around Lough Melvin, the head of the family having been Chief of Dartry or Rosclogher. Today, the surname is still most common in Leitrim and Clare, with significant numbers also found in the adjoining counties of Galway and Tipperary. The only other county in which they are found in considerable numbers to-day is Leitrim.