Conall is an Irish name from Old Irish, often interpreted as meaning strong wolf or high mighty.
Conall is one of the great warrior names of the ancient Gaelic world, composed of the Old Irish elements con (meaning "hound" or "wolf") and all (meaning "strong" or "great"). Together they form something like "strong wolf" or "mighty hound" — animals that in Celtic culture represented loyalty, ferocity, and noble valor rather than the sinister associations wolves later acquired in Christian European folklore. The name predates written Irish records, suggesting it was already ancient when early medieval scribes first committed it to vellum.
In Irish mythology, Conall Cernach ("Conall of the Victories") is one of the supreme heroes of the Ulster Cycle, cousin and sword-companion to Cú Chulainn. When Cú Chulainn is killed, it is Conall who avenges him — a role that speaks to the name's deep association with fealty and righteous violence. The historical annals also record multiple kings and chieftains named Conall across early medieval Ireland and Scotland, including Conall mac Comgaill, a sixth-century king of Dál Riata who, according to some sources, invited Columba to found his monastery on Iona.
Conall never fully faded from use in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, sustaining itself through centuries of English colonial pressure that erased many Gaelic names. Its recent revival is part of a broader Celtic naming renaissance, with parents drawn to its muscular brevity, its deep mythological roots, and the way it sounds equally at home in a Dublin suburb or a Brooklyn brownstone. It wears its antiquity without effort.