Madden
Ó Madaidhín · descendant of Madadhán
Madden is Ó Madaidhín in Irish, said oh MAD-een, and means descendant of Madadhán.
Madadh is a hound. Lords of Síl Anmchadha on the Shannon, and they held the river crossing at Meelick for four hundred years.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Madaidhín
- His daughter: Ní Mhadaidhín
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Mhadaidhín
- The family together: Uí Mhadaidhín
Where it comes from
east Galway
Also spelt
Madden, O’Madden, Maddin
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.