Kavanagh
Caomhánach · of Caomhán, the follower of Saint Caomhán
Kavanagh is Caomhánach in Irish, said KWAV-a-nakh, and means of Caomhán, the follower of Saint Caomhán.
One of the few Irish surnames with neither Ó nor Mac. Domhnall, son of Dermot MacMurrough, was fostered at Saint Caomhán’s church and took the name from it, and his descendants kept it.
How it changes
- A man: Caomhánach
- His daughter: Chaomhánach
- A woman who married into it: Bean Chaomhánach
- The family together: Chaomhánach
Where it comes from
Carlow and Wexford
Also spelt
Kavanagh, Cavanagh, Kavanaugh, Cavanaugh
A name, not a pedigree
This is where the name came from, which is not the same as where you came from. Names were translated, anglicised, taken on by tenants and neighbours, and carried in by settlers who were no relation to the family that started them. To follow your own line, the 1901 and 1911 censuses are free and searchable, and give the county each person was born in.