Keegan (Mac Aodhagain) Family History
The Clann MacAodhagain is an Irish Clan centred on Redwood Castle in Tipperary, founded in around 1000AD.
Surnames such as Egan, Keegan and McKeegan derive from this clan as a result of anglicising the difficult gaelic name.
In the 1620s the surname Keegan became somewhat popular in Louth, Meath, Westmeath and Dublin and it is assumed that a MacAodhagain must have anglicised the name by dropping the "Mac" but retaining the "C" or "K" sound making the name "Keegan."
DNA testing has confirmed that Keegan and Egan come from the same root (DNA haplogroup R1b1a2) and further confirmed that the clan's origin in the "Ui Maine Clann" (descendants of King Maine) were descended also from King Niall of the Nine Hostages.
Furthermore, DNA testing has also confirmed the celtic legend that the "Milesian tribe" from which we are descended originated in Egypt - the majority of Keegan and Egan men share the same haplogroup (DNA code based on the paternal Y chromosome) as Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. In fact there are more people in the British isles and Europe who are descended from this Pharaoh family than there are in Egypt. We are descended from a man dubbed Oisin who lived around 16,000 years ago, and represents the founder (from a DNA point of view) of many Celts.
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