O’Callaghan
Ó Ceallacháin · descendant of Ceallachán
O’Callaghan is Ó Ceallacháin in Irish, said oh KAL-a-khawn, and means descendant of Ceallachán.
Ceallachán of Cashel was king of Munster in the tenth century, and his great-grandchildren took his name. Their lands were around the Blackwater until Cromwell moved them to Clare.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Ceallacháin
- His daughter: Ní Cheallacháin
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Cheallacháin
- The family together: Uí Cheallacháin
Where it comes from
Cork
Also spelt
O’Callaghan, Callaghan, Callahan
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.