Ó hEidhin

Rev Patrick Woulfe

1923

Ó hEIDHIN—I—O Heine, O Heyne, O Hine, O Hyne, Heines, Hynes, Hyndes, &c.; 'descendant of Eidhean' (ivy); the name of a Galway family who derive their descent from the celebrated Guaire Aidhne, King of Connacht in the 7th century, and for the space of six hundred years were the chief family of Ui Fiachrach Aidhne and lords of Aidhne, a district co-extensive with the diocese of Kilmacduagh. Maolruanaidh Ó hEidhin, lord of Aidhne, who fell at Clontarf, in 1014, was the first person to bear the surname. There was also a family of the name formerly of considerable importance seated in the neighbourhood of Caherconlish, Co. Limerick, but it is now almost extinct. The name is however still common in Galway and the adjoining parts of Co. Clare.

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