Keegan, Egan, McKeegan...
For the purposes of clarity, the Keegan England Group divides the MacAodhagain septs as follows:
SEPT1: MacEgan, MacCaigan and Egan of Redwood (Most frequent in Galway, Tipperary and Roscommon)
SEPT2: McKeegan and MacKeegan (Most frequent in Derry, Antrim and Down)
SEPT3: Keegan, Kegan and Keggin (Most frequent in Louth, Meath, Westmeath and Dublin)
SEPT4: McKeighan, Keighen and Keigeen of the Isles (Most frequent in North Uist, Coll, Jura, Isle of Man, Scotland)
There are numerous variations of our family name, from Keegan, Keighan and Kiggan to McKeegan, MacEgan and Egan. The variations are the result of attempting to Anglicise a name which, when written in Gaelic would be baffling to an English speaker - MacAodhagain looks like it should be pronounced "Mack-Ay-Odd-Hag-ain" when in fact it was pronounced "Mack-Hyoo-Gan."
It is a mistake to think that all of our ancestors were illiterates who one day would spell the name Egan and another day spell it McKeegan. In most cases a spelling was changed by one person and adherred to by his descendants.
The purpose of this page is to document the different branches (septs) and give a guide to each variation of the name.
The name MacAodhagain could best be pronounced:
Mac: MACK
Aodh: HYOO
Again: GANN
Aodh is a popular syllable in Gaelic languages, meaning "fire" it is the root of names like "Aedan" and also "Hugh". It therefore has similar derivatives in names like Mackay.
"MacAodh" (Mack Hyoo) when said with an Irish accent sounds like "Mackay" so "MacAodhagain" came to be pronounced "Mackaygan" giving us variations like:
Macegan
MacKeegan
McKeegan
Mackeigan
When the "Mac" is dropped we are left with either "Egan" or "Keegan"
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: MacAodhagain
Location: Tipperary
Year: 1000
Flann MacAodhagain took the clan name MacAodhagain from his father Aedhagain in circa 1000.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: M'Egan, Egan and Macegan (Sept 1)
Locations: Offaly, Sligo, Roscommon, Galway, Clare
Year: 1226
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Sarah M'Egan, which was dated 1226, marriage to Thomas L'Estrange, at Killaloe, Co. Clare, during the reign of King Henry III of England.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Mac Caighen
Location: Galway
Year: 1422
Name: Mac Caghen
Location: Galway
Year: 1511
Name: Cagan
Locations: Exeter, Devon
Year: 1575
Also seen in 1600 in Exeter with John Cagan.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Hegaine
Locations: Ross
Year: 1602
First occurance was by Bishop Owen MacAodhagain who signed his name Hegaine (previously signing it Maceggen).
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Kaighan
Location: Galway
Year: 1611
Kaighin was also seen in 1667
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Kegan, Keegan (Sept 3)
Locations: Dublin, Westmeath
Year: 1620
This spelling was used for the first time in the 1620s when Murtagh, Robert, Henry, Dudly, William and Walter Keegan were born. They are thought to be the ancestors of all Keegans. We believe they, including Murtagh Keegan were the sons of Murtagh MacAodhagain.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Caighan
Location: Galway
Year: 1643
Caighin was also seen in 1745
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: McKeegan, McKiegan, McKeggan, McKiggan (Sept 2 & 4)
Location: Antrim, Derry, Scotland
Year: 1600
These variations are most common in Ulster and Scottish islands, particularly North Uist. The Clan McDonald considers "Keegan" a sept of the Clan McDonald provided it is derived from "McKiegan" and provided it originates in North Uist.
Derrykeighan (Doire-Chaechain) is a parish in Antrim meaning Keighan's Grove.
Brian Mitchell's "Surnames of Derry" states the McKeegans of North Uist in the Western Isles went to Scotland from Ireland around 1600. Black's "Surnames of Scotland" says they came to North Uist in 1600 but also says the name was in the area before this date. Although this could refer to the MacEachens.
The name was also rendered MacIogain in a story about a mythological sea monster!
In 1777 the name Keighan was recorded in Glasgow.
For more information see MacDonald Page
Kaighan (Manx)
This Manx (Isle of Man) name is common on the island. Although it resembles Keegan, it is thought to derive from the Scottish name Mac Eachan, although it also resembles Mac Cahain (McCain). In the north of the island it is commonly Kaighan and in the south it is Keigeen. Confusingly some sources refer it to the name Mac Taidhgin (modern teague) which means poet.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Cagon
Location: Moray, Scotland
Year: 1662
James Cagon is recorded as marrying Janet Stewart in this year.
Caigon is also seen in 1734 and 1749.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Keigham
Location: Paul, Cornwall
Year: 1670
In this year Mary Keigham married Thomas Crankan
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Other names similar to Keegan
McKeeg
Not thought to be related to MacAodhagain/Egan/Keegan this Scottish name is a sept of Clan Macleod
Mackay, MacAodh
Not related to MacAodhagain/Egan/Keegan, although this Scottish name is yet another sept of Clan McDonald
O'H'Aodha
This is a Gaelic variation of Hughes or Hayes
Coggan, Cogavin Keoghan, Keohane, De Cogan, Goggin
This is a very rare case, because it is correct to say that while the name looks similar to Keegan it is unrelated.... But in one way it is related because our home Redwood Castle was originally built for the De Cogans!
The name is Celtic in origin and goes back to the parish of Cogan which is in the diocese of Llandaff, in Glamorganshire, Wales. Cogan is a place near Cardiff in Wales.
It is said that the ancestors can be traced back to Cardigan where they were seated before the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Cogan notes
Milo de Cogan , the first of the Cogan families to come to Ireland :(d. c. 1183) He was Strongbow's right-hand man in the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1171. Granted a huge area in Co. Cork by Henry 11. Milo left no surviving son and the great territorial family thus founded, though reinforced by grants to Richard de Cogan in 1207 and still important enough to be listed among the chief gentry of the barony of Kinelea in 1591, was practically extinct as such by the end of the seventeenth century. Minor branches of it survive up to the present day, usually under the name of Goggin and sometimes Gogan. In the sixteenth century the name was in the transition stage: the earlier Fiants gave Cogan, Cogane and Coggain, the later ones Gogan and Goggan. Among the Co. Cork place-names we find Goganrath and Gogganshill, (also given as Knockgogan and a few years earlier as Knockcowgan). The form Cogan did not become obsolete. Philip Cogan sailed to Spain with del Aquila in 1602; two Cogans and a Coggan were officers in southern regiments of James 11's Irish army, Richard Cogan was a "doctor of physic" in Co. Cork in 1707 and in 1798 Pascho Coggin was a witness to a deed relating to Charleville, formerly known as Rathgoggan, the name of the parish embracing the town of Charleville. Another Philip Cogan (1750-1834), composer, was also a Cork man. As well as the Cogans of Norman origin there is a sept of the Ui Maine whose name is sometimes anglicized as Cogan, though Coogan is more usual and nearer the Gaelic-Irish form Ó Cuagáin. They are of the same stock as the O'Maddens. A sept of Mac Cogain were located in Glanfarne on the shore of Lough Allen in Co. Leitrim, dropped the prefix Mac in the eighteenth century and became Cogan and Coggan. Neither is at all numerous today. The variant Cogavin is also rare.
Goggin(s), Goggan(s) and Gogan are names that have been suggested as being derived from Geoghegan. However, these are usually variants of the name Cogan. Keoghan, Keohan and Kohan all come from the Irish Mac Eocháin. Because of the similarity to Mac Eochagáin, there has been inevitable confusion, however this is a name peculiar to west Cork and is not connected with Geoghegan. Egan (and it's variants Keegan and Hegan) which is Mac Aodhagáin in Irish, is an unrelated name (apart from both having owned Redwood Castle!) despite its similar appearance.
The name is Celtic in origin and goes back to the parish of Cogan which is in the diocese of Llandaff, in Glamorganshire, Wales. Cogan is a place near Cardiff in Wales.
It is said that the ancestors can be traced back to Cardigan where they were seated before the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
McCaighen notes
Reference to McCaighen in 1422:From “The Ancient Ordinances and Statues of the Isle of Man”also known as Mills’ Statutes, published by Mark Anthony Mills in 1821.
In the same Court Hawley McIssacke was arraigned for that he felloniously rose upon John Walton, Lieutenant of Mann, sitting in the Court of Kirk Michaell, upon Tuesday next after the Feast of Corpus Christi, in the Yeare of our Lord God 1422, and Men there being with him, did beate and misuse the Lieutennant's Men in the Church and Church-yard. And there Hawley McIssacke came and utterly withsaid all his Deeds, and put him to the Country and to the Deemsters. And the Deemsters answered and said, For as much as it was done trayterously to rise upon the said Lieutennant, and he seeing it, the Law of the Land deems that he should not be received to Quest; for he rose with strong Hand, and therefore the Law deems that the said Hawley ought to be drawne with Horses, and after hanged and headed; and after the Sentence given, he put himself to the King's Grace.
And in the same Court Finloe McCowley, Mould McOwen, Willm. McCurghey, Lawrence Banestor, and Finlow McCaighen, were arraigned; that the felloniously and treyterously rose upon John WaIton, Lieutennant of Man, sitting in the Court the Day and Year above said, to kill him; the which appeared and withsaid the Treason, and therefore put them to Inquest; and to this the Deemsters answered and said, for as much as they rose against the Lieutennant to kill him; therefore the Law is, that the said Finlow McCowley, Mould McOwen, W. C., L. B., and, F. McC. to be drawne with Horses, and their Heads smitten off; and after Judgment given they asked Grace of the King.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
MacEachain notes
Ann Kaighin of the Isle of Man Family History Society says she has evidence that our Manx MacEachains came over to the Isle of Man from Galloway with the timber used to build Peel Castle and other forts on the island. There is historical evidence that lends credence to this theory. The Manx Chronicles states that in the year 1098, Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, Son of Olave, after visiting the Isle of Man, chose it for his abode and “he compelled the men of Galloway to cut timber and bring it to the shore for construction of forts.” Ann says that a group of these early Kaighins were granted a tract of land in Kirk German, not far from Peel Castle.
From Appendices to Munch’s Chronicle of Man, Appendix 35 mention is made of a Thomas de Cakan, a servant of William, Bishop of Sodor in 1351. One of the earliest mentions of a Kaighin in the official records of the Isle of Man is that of a Gilbert McHanghan (or Machaughen) who was indentured in 1417 to Lord John Stanley. This can be found in Indentura Castrum de Rushen, the oldest record of Castle Rushen. In 1422, a Finlo McCacken (or McCaighen) of Kirk Michael was involved in the uprising against John Walton, Lieutenant Governor of Man and with several of his co-conspirators was convicted and subsequently quartered and his head removed. The Manorial Rolls of 1511 list a Peter McCaken at Freshgarth, Rushen, a William McCaken at Croknese, Rushen, and a Robert Caken at Shandhall, Rushen. The Manorial Rolls of 1515 list a Richard McCaghen in Sartedale, Kirk German. The Liber Vast links a Gilbert Caighin buried about 1576 with a Robert McCaighin, possibly his father. Parish records and the IGI can then be used to trace Kaighins from as early as 1586.