New Post
Search
Help[Surname] Irish prefix
Some Irish names have an "O" or "Mc" before the name. I remember that they were supposed to have some meaning but can not remember.
I discovered when searching Cavanaugh there was an O-Cavanaugh what is the O stand for?
I discovered when searching Cavanaugh there was an O-Cavanaugh what is the O stand for?
1
Replies
Ó, formerly Ua, literally means "grandson", more loosely "descendant". Mac means "son", not "son of" as most people believe. There is no name O-Cavanaugh, though there is a surname O'Caveney, which might have beaen altered. Otherwise Cavanaugh, or Kavanagh, should stand on its own. It was originally an epithet added to the surname MacMurrough, to distinguish a particular branch of that clan. So the earliest form of the name was MacMurrough Kavanagh (MacMurchadha Caomhanach), which was still used as a title by the chief of the name up to modern times. Another branch of the clan was called MacMurrough Kinsella (MacMurchadha Cinnseallach), now simply Kinsella.
1