Shannon (surname)

Last updated

Shannon
Pronunciation /ˈʃænən/ SHAN-ən
Origin
Language(s) Old Irish [1]
Word/namesenchaid [1]
Derivation cognate
Meaning"skilled storyteller"
Other names
Variant form(s)MacShannon, O'Shannon
Cognate(s)senchaid

Shannon, MacShannon, and O'Shannon are Anglicised Irish and Scottish surnames that derive from the Gaelic word seanachaidh, which means "skilled storyteller". [1] Seanachaidh is descended from the Old Irish word senchaid.

Contents

Other forms of the name are O'Shawnessey or O'Shannahan.

Several old Gaelic names of Scottish and Irish people alike were Anglicised as Shannon, despite being unrelated.[ citation needed ]

The 1990 United States Census found that Shannon was a very common surname (No. 679 out of 88,799) in the United States. [2]

People with the surname Shannon

Academics

Artists

Journalists

Military personnel

Politicians

Scientists

Sportspeople

Others

Fictional characters

See also

Related Research Articles

Doyle is a surname of Irish origin. The name is a back-formation from O'Doyle, which is an Anglicisation of the Irish Ó Dubhghaill, meaning "descendant of Dubhghall". There is another possible etymology: the Anglo-Norman surname D'Oyley with agglutination of the French article de. It means 'from Ouilly', the name of a knight who originated from one of the places named Ouilly in Normandy, such as Ouilly-le-Tesson, Ouilly-le-Vicomte, etc. The relationship with the family D'Oyly is unknown.

Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name Dòmhnall. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *Dumno-ualos. The final -d in Donald is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the Gaelic pronunciation by English speakers, and partly associated with the spelling of similar-sounding Germanic names, such as Ronald. A short form of Donald is Don. Pet forms of Donald include Donnie and Donny. The feminine given name Donella is derived from Donald.

Moran is a modern Irish surname derived from membership of a medieval dynastic sept. The name means a descendant of Mórán. “Mor” in Gaelic translates as big or great and “an” as the prefix the. Morans were a respected sept of the Uí Fiachrach dynasty in the western counties of Mayo and Sligo. In Ireland, where the name descended from the Gaelic, it is generally pronounced MORR-ən anglicised approximate of the Irish pronunciation.

MacDonald, Macdonald, and McDonald are surnames of both Irish and Scottish Origin. In the Scottish Gaelic and Irish languages they are patronymic, referring to an ancestor with given name Donald.

Flynn is an Irish surname or first name, an anglicised form of the Irish Ó Floinn or possibly Mac Floinn, meaning "descendant or son of Flann". The name is more commonly used as a surname rather than a first name.

Davidson is a patronymic surname, meaning "son/descendant of David". In the Highlands of Scotland, where the surname is an anglicised version of the Gaelic "mac Daibhidh", Clan Davidson was traditionally a sept of the Clan Chattan Confederation. There are alternate spellings, including those common in the British Isles and Scandinavia: Davidsen, Davisson, Davison, Daveson, Davidsson. While the given name comes from the Hebrew "David", meaning beloved, Davidson is rarely used as a masculine given name or nickname.

Bell is a surname common in English speaking countries with several word-origins.

Conroy is an Irish surname.

Hogan is an Irish surname, mostly from County Tipperary. It is the anglicised form of Gaelic ÓhÓgáin ‘descendant of Ógán', a name meaning 'young warrior'. It may also be an anglicised form of Ó hEochagáin (Houghegan). Notable people with the surname include:

Lyons is a surname with several origins. It is the name of an eminent Anglo-Norman family that is descended from Ingelram de Lyons, Lord of Lyons, who arrived in England with the Norman Conquest, and from his relation, Nicholas de Lyons, who emigrated from Normandy to England in 1080 and was granted lands at Warkworth, Northamptonshire by William of Normandy. The family originated in the district of the Forest of Lyons, north of the town of Lyons-la-Forêt, in Norman Vexin, where their seat was the Castle of Lyons. The original surname was 'de Lyons' : subsequently, the 'de' was removed from the name, and some branches removed the 's' from the end of the word, producing 'Lyon'.

Kennedy, with variant forms O'Kennedy and Kennedie, is a surname of Irish and Scottish origin that has also been used as a given name.

The surname Burns has several origins. In some cases, it derived from the Middle English or Scots burn, and originated as a topographic name for an individual who lived by a stream. In other cases the surname is a variant form of the surname Burnhouse, which originated as a habitational name, derived from a place name made up of the word elements burn and house. In other cases the surname Burns originated as a nickname meaning "burn house". In other cases, the surname Burns is an Anglicised form of the Irish Ó Broin, which means "descendant of Bran". In some cases the surname Burns is an Americanized form of the Jewish surname Bernstein, which is derived from the German bernstein ("amber").

The etymology of the surname Morrison is either Anglo-Norman, commonly found throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, or from the Clan Morrison, a Scottish clan originally from Sutherland and the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.

Sweeney is a surname that is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic Mac Suibhne meaning "son of Suibhne". The Gaelic personal name Suibhne was originally a byname meaning "pleasant" or "well-disposed" and is associated with Clan Sweeney.

Gilmore and Gillmore are surnames with several origins and meanings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly (surname)</span> Surname list

Kelly is a surname of Irish origin. The name is a partially anglicised version of older Irish names and has numerous origins, most notably from the Ui Maine. In some cases it is derived from toponyms located in Ireland and Great Britain; in other cases it is derived from patronyms in the Irish language.

Owen is usually an anglicised variant of the Welsh personal name Owain. Originally a patronymic, Owen became a fixed surname in Wales beginning with the reign of Henry VIII. Etymologists consider it to originate from Eugene, meaning 'noble-born'. According to T. J. Morgan and Prys Morgan in Welsh Surnames: "the name is a derivation of the Latin Eugenis > OW Ou[u]ein, Eug[u]ein ... variously written in MW as Ewein, Owein, Ywein. LL gives the names Euguen, Iguein, Yuein, Ouein. The corresponding form in Irish is Eoghan." Morgan and Morgan note that there are less likely alternative explanations, and agree with Rachel Bromwich that Welsh Owein "is normally latinised as Eugenius", and that both the Welsh and Irish forms are Latin derivatives.

Connelly is an anglicised form of the Gaelic-Irish surname Ó Conghalaigh. Notable people with the surname Connelly include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rory</span> Name list

Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the Irish: Ruairí/Ruaidhrí and Scottish Gaelic: Ruairidh/Ruaraidh and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. The meaning of the name is "red king", composed of ruadh ("red") and rígh ("king").

Gillespie is both a masculine given name and a surname in the English language. Variants include Gillaspie and Gillispie.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Shannon". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Fourth ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2009. ISBN   978-0-395-82517-4. OCLC   43499541 . Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  2. Campbell, Mike. "Shannon". Behind the Name. Retrieved 7 October 2012.