Mac Conaonaigh

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Mac CONAONAIGH—IV—M'Enanny, M'Nenny, MacAneany, MacAneeny, MacAneny, MacEneany, MacNeney, MacNeeny, Conheeny, Cunneeny, and, by 'translation' Bird in Ulster, and Rabbit in Connacht; 'son of Cú-aonaigh' (hound of the fair); the name of a well-known Monaghan family, who were formerly seated in the neighbourhood of Clones. The surname has been corrupted in Ulster to Mac an Éanaigh and sometimes ridiculously 'translated' Bird. Also the name of a Roscommon family, sometimes called Mac Conanaonaigh (which see), who gave its name to the townland of Kilmacenanny, or Kilmacananneny, in the parish of Lissonuffy, where some of them were still inhabiting at the end of the 16th century. In Connacht, the surname is now generally anglicised Rabbit, owing to its similarity in pronunciation to the word 'coinín,' a rabbit. There was a third family of the name, apparently a branch of the MacDonnells, in Co. Antrim, who are now probably represented by MacAneny in Co. Tyrone.

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