I'm looking for some clarification and pronunciation help with the gaeilge form of my last name. What I have found in researching my last name is three forms O' hAileagain, Aileagan, and O' hAllagain and is from an Oriel Sept. I know the name originates from the Armagh region, my family has taught me in the past that is where we are from and my research confirms this.

I guess what I am asking is do any of the three have any meaning or symbolism to you when reading them and some help pronouncing them would help a great deal, as I have no idea where to start with Gaeilge. Also what is an Oriel Sept exactly in laymans terms?

Thank you for your time and patience

Just did a quick word search and found this on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airg%C3%ADalla Apparently, as you have pointed out your family was from southern Ulster. I am sure your name was Anglicized in some way, but as written I would pronounce it something like
"O Halligan" and I don't know what it means. We'll see if anyone else has some info on " do mhuintir" (your people).

I think the standard form of (O) Halligan (and variants) is Ó hAileagáin (Mr), Ní Aileagáin (Miss), or Uí Aileagáin (Mrs). It wouldn't normally appear without an Ó, Ní, or Uí in Irish. Older traditional spellings of names are sometimes also retained by specific families.

The pronunciation wouldn't be far off Halligan, as Faber guessed.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

There's a whole Baile Uí Aileagáin, 'O'Halligan's townland' in Omagh:

http://www.ulsterplacenames.org/PDF%20F ... (P._Tempan).pdf

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Thank you both for your invaluable input. This has brought a whole lot more information to study. The only other thing I can think to add is this little tidbit from surnamedb

"'Aileagan', the later being a personal name derived from 'aille', meaning beauty!"

I don't suppose 'agan' has any literal meaning? Man? People?

I'd have to say I feel fairly beautiful, but hey the eye of the beholder eh?

Oh and my lawfully given surname happens to be Halligan, so no stretch in pronunciation. Cheers!

Halligan is Ó hAileagáin in Irish for a male (though I am sure there are other variants), Breandán gave the versions used for females. Irish surnames mostly come from first names, so the Ó (meaning 'Grandson of') would have been added to the first name Aileagán (or something like that), but then with Irish language rules it becomes Ó hAileagáin.

Oriel was an area encompassing south Ulster. Its my understanding it was a loose federation of peoples, it got its name from Óir and Giall means gold hostage, in reference to the practice of taking hostages and shackling them in gold chains as a guarantee so that meeting people could be sure it wasnt an ambush. If the meeting went ok, the hostage was released. I think the meaning on the name Oriel is disputed though, but that was my understanding. Im sure the wikipedia link will give you much more information.