The Irish surname McHale is an anglicized form of the Gaelic name Mac Céile, a patronymic from the byname Céile meaning “companion.” This was the surname of a Mayo family, tenants of church lands.from Mac Haol ‘son of Haol’, a Gaelicized form of Howell which was adopted by a Welsh family of this name who settled in County Mayo. Records of the name include  the marriage of Anthony McHale and Bridget McAndrews on September 10th 1832 at Lacken, County Mayo, and the christening of David, son of Thomas McHale and Anne Flynn, on December 23rd 1864 at Ballina District, County Mayo. John MacHale (1791-1881) was Archbishop of Tuam (Galway and Mayo diocese).The name is first recorded in the New World in 1868 when Miles McHale arrived in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania. Today there are approximately 6,000 bearers of the name McHale living in the United States.