Geoghegan
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Geoghegan (Irish: Mag Eochagáin) is a surname of Gaelic Irish origin.
Often spelled without the prefix "Mac", the name has many variants, including Gehegan, Geoghan, Geohegan, Gahagan, Gagan, and Gagon which approximate the most common pronunciations of the name. It is usually pronounced gay-gan, ge-heg-an or go-hee-gan. In Irish it is Mag Eochagáin, from Eochaidh. The initial "G" of Geoghegan comes from the prefix Mag, a variant of Mac and the anglicised form Mageoghegan was formerly much used.
History
Correlation to ancient figures
The sept of the MacGeoghegans is of the southern Uí Néill, and said to be descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages. Niall was alive from the mid 4th century into the early 5th century. His father was Eochaid Mugmedón, of the line of Erimhon, one of the sons of Esbain who it is said took Ireland from the Tuatha de Danann.
Niall's mother was Carthann Cas Dubh, daughter of the king of Britain. Niall's first wife was Inné, mother of his son Fiachu mac Néill, from who the Geoghegan family are said to be descended. He also had seven other sons with his second wife, Roighnech. Niall's ancestry is claimed by Irish myth to trace back to Miledh of Esbain, King of Spain, whose wife Scota was the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh Nectanebo II. From there the line is sometimes traced to Niul who was married to the daughter of Pharaoh Cingris.
Niall of the Nine Hostages
As High King of Ireland, Niall reigned from the ancient Irish royal seat at Tara, in modern County Meath. During his reign he conquered all of Ireland. He took a royal hostage from each of the nine kingdoms he subjugated, hence his famous nickname. He gave each of his sons a territory to govern. Fiachu was given a large area in the midlands. His descendants were known as Cenel Fiachaigh, anglicised at Kenaleagh and their territory was known by that name until Elizabethan times when it became the "Barony of Moycashel", County Westmeath.
Niall is also famous for bringing St. Patrick to Ireland as a slave. It is said that Fiachu refused baptism from the saint himself at Carn, near Castletown-Geoghegan. The old name for this place was Carn Fhiachaigh, or Fiachu's burial mound.
On the other hand, it is claimed in the early 15th-century manuscript called Leabhar Breac that the Geoghegans are descended, not from Fiachu, son of Niall, but from a plebeian, Fiachu, son of Aedh. This claim so enraged the descendants of Fiachu, that they killed the author of the passage, even though he was under the protection of Suanach, the abbot of the monastery of Rahin.[1]
Geoghegans
There have been several notable Geoghegans including:
- Michael Geoghegan (b. 1953), former HSBC Group chief executive
- Thomas Geoghegan (b. 1949), Chicago labour lawyer and politician
- John Geoghegan (b. 1956), midfielder, Accrington Stanley FC
- John Michael Geoghegan (1881-1847), Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Helen Gahagan Douglas (1900–1980), American actress and Congresswoman from California whose electoral defeat by Richard M. Nixon propelled him into national politics
- In the late 1800s William Geoghegan was head brewer, and his brother Samuel was chief engineer, at the Guinness brewery in Dublin.
- Ted Geoghegan (b. 1979), director of We Are Still Here
- Roche MacGeoghegan (1580–1644), the Dominican, "saintly and enterprising" Bishop of Kildare
- Richard Henry Geoghegan, linguist who designed the Esperanto flag
- Richard MacGeoghegan, commanded the defenders at the siege of Dunboy at Berehaven Co. Cork in 1601
- Conal MacGeoghegan, Chief of the Sept, translator of the Annals of Clonmacnoise into English in 1627
- James MacGeoghegan (1702–1764), priest and historian
- Anthony Geoghegan (1810–1889), poet
- A branch of the MacGeoghegan sept settled in Bunowen, Co. Galway, and the name is found in that county as well as in their original territory. In the West it has been often shortened to Geoghan and even Gegan. In 1807, John Geoghegan of Bunowen Castle, Co. Galway assumed by royal licence the surname of O'Neill in lieu of Geoghegan and so his descendants.
- John Geoghegan, Mayor of City of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, 1994–2003
- Simon Geoghegan, Ireland rugby international
- Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (b. 1950), Irish politician and current European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science.
Moycashel lineages
The book Irish Pedigrees: Or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation by John O'Hart[2] lists the direct lineage from Niall of the Nine Hostages to the ancestors of the modern day Geoghegans and Gahagans.
See also
- Niall of the Nine Hostages
- Castletown-Geoghegan
- Annals of the Four Masters
- O'Neill (surname)
- Gahagan
- Gallagher
References
- ^ http://www.geoghegan.org/clan/
- ^ O'Hart, John. Irish Pedigrees: Or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation.
External links
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