Meaning & Origin
A surname from Irish, variant of O'Neal.
Oneal is a boy's and girl's baby name of Irish origin, from the Irish surname Ó Neill, from Niall, of uncertain meaning — possibly from the Celtic neil (champion) or niall (cloud), meaning 'champion' or 'descendant of Niall' — one of Ireland's great dynastic surnames.
With over 3,000 recorded births, Oneal is a given-name form of the famous Irish O'Neal/O'Neill surname — the dynasty of the Uí Néill who dominated northern Irish politics for over a millennium. Shaquille O'Neal's surname fame, Ryan O'Neal's Hollywood prominence, and countless Irish-American bearers have kept the name in American consciousness. As Oneal, it carries all of that clan heritage as a first name.