Quinlan, ó Caoindealbháin, ó Caoinleáin A Gaelic surname derived from Caoindealbhán meaning ‘gracefully shaped’.A sept of Meath who were chiefs of Cinel Laoghaire, near Trim until the Cambro-Norman invasion. A branch of the sept settled in north Tipperary. In 1890 Quinlan was principally found in Tipperary and Kerry, and the estimated number of bearers was 2,420.