Ó Caomháin

Rev Patrick Woulfe

1923

Ó CAOMHÁIN—I—O Keavane, O Kevane, Kevane, Keevane, Keevan, Cavan, Kevans, (Cavanagh, Kavanagh, Cavendish); 'descendant of Caomhán' (diminutive of Caomh); the name of a branch of the Ui Fiachrach in Sligo and Mayo. They were at one time an important family, and it was their privilege to inaugurate O'Dowd in the chieftaincy of Ui Fiachrach. Some of them seem to have settled, before the end of the 16th century, in Westmeath, Offaly and Kilkenny; and at the present day, the name is common in West Munster, but anglicised Cavanagh and Kavanagh. It is sometimes absurdly made Cavendish in Mayo. There was also a family of the same name in Co. Tyrone, but it seems to be extinct.

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