Bowles, Boles  See under Boal.

Boal  Mainly found in Cos. Antrim and Down.  Boal is a synonym of the Irish Boyle, also sometimes of the English name Boles or Bowles.

‘The Surnames of Ireland' Edward MacLysaght, sixth edition (1997), published by the Irish Academic Press, ISBN 0-7165-2364-7.

p. 448 Bowles* Boles*/Boal*

The coat of arms depicted here is believed to approximate that of the Boyle family of Kelburne, Ayrshire, Scotland, prior to the creation of the Earldom of Glasgow in 1703 when the arms and crest were altered. Prior to 1703 the Boyles (pronounced Boles) were for many generations Lairds of Kelburne Castle. They were originally a Norman family from Beauville (or Boyville), France, who entered England during or after the Conquest in 1066, and they are thought to have entered Scotland about the year 1140, when King David I invited some of the northern nobility of England and their retainers to settle in the lowlands.