Buckna

The prefixes O? & Mc in Irish names are detachable, and sometimes alternate according to whim. Sometimes they are dispensed with altogether, so in this case Melvena/Mulvena would also be variants of that name to be found in that area. O & Mc just indicate that the person was of the Melvena "tribe" and are therefore just a supplementary part of the name.

The variations are completely normal, and very common in Ireland. In the 1800s, no-one cared exactly how their name was spelled, and any change is usually as a result of a different person recording the information, with their own ideas on how to spell it, rather than a deliberate decision to change the spelling or because of a mistake.

Other examples, in that general geographic area, of names that vary like that within the same family are McDonnell/O?Donnell, Kilpatrick/Kirkpatrick, Robertson/ Robinson, Barkley/Barclay. All are variant spellings of the same name, and can switch about from document to document, for the same person or family.

There?s at least 1 Omelvena family in Broughshane to this day.

Thank you for your comment.  I was thinking it might be some issue like that.  The search continues for the ancestral link.

Fred