Ó Sraitheáin

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Ó SRAITHEÁIN, Ó SRUITHEÁIN, Ó SRUTHÁIN—I—O Srahane, O Shrihane, O Sreighan, O Shrean, O Streffan, Shryhane, Sruffaun, Strohane, Strahan, Straghan, Strachan, Strain, Bywater, (Ryan); 'descendant of Sruthán,' or 'Sruitheán' (diminutive of sruth, an elder, a sage, a man of letters); the name of an old Tirconnell family, the head of which was chief of Clann Snedhgile, a sept of the Cinel Conaill, seated in Glenswilly, to the west of Letterkenny, and also erenagh of Conwall in the same district. Some of the family had come southward before the end of the 16th century, probably as followers of the MacSweenys, and settled in Co. Cork, where the name is still extant, but often 'translated' Bywater, as if from 'sruthán,' a streamlet. In Co. Mayo, it is sometimes strangely anglicised Ryan.

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