Other branches of the clan: Mc Auley, Mac Auley, Mac Awley, Cauley, Magawley.
Irish Clan Name: Mac Amalgada, Mac Amalhaid.

The name is spelt in several different ways, the most usual being Mac Auley, Cawley and Macaulay. It is believed that there are two main Irish septs of McAuliffe different in origin and location. The sept was at one time of considerable importance, being Lords of a wide territory in Offaly and Westmeath. This area is called "MacGawley's Country", the centre of which is Ballyloughnoe in County Westmeath. They were described as the Chiefs of Calry in the four Masters. They are descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, their surname being taken from his descendant Auley, who was well known in the thirteenth century.

Newmarket is part of the ancestral home of the OSullivans and forms a stage of the Beara-Breifne Greenway which is based on the historic march of O'Sullivan Beara in 1603.