Nugent

Padraig Mac Giolla-Domhnaigh

Some Anglicised Surnames in Ireland

1923

Nugent—This name is of Norman origin in Ireland, and the name is derived from John de Wynchedoun. The first of the Nugents came to Ireland with Henry II. in 1171, and the Marquis of Westmeath is descended from the Norman knight that came at that time. Enchidon was a form of Nugent in the 16th century, as we read that Mac Carthy More and James Fitzmaurice laid siege to the Abbey of Tracton on the 16th of June, 1569, and killed John Enchidon and all his men. Afterwards we read the Nugents of Tracton took the Irish Confederation side in the Rising of 1641, and strangely enough in the Fews district of Co. Armagh it takes the form of Mac Uinnseacháin. The reason I refer to Nugent at all is that the names Gilshenan and Gilsenan in the districts of Ardee, Drumconrath, and adjoining parts in Louth and Meath, in Gaelic Mac Giolla-t-Seanáin, is synonymous with Mac Uinnseannain, the Gaelicised form of Nugent. Mac Giolla-t-Seanáin has been anglicised Leonard in S.W. Ulster.

Alphabetical Index of Anglicised Surnames in Ireland

See also Woulfe’s Irish Names and Surnames

… and O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees

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