Sheehan
Ó Síocháin · descendant of Síodhach
Sheehan is Ó Síocháin in Irish, said oh SHEE-khawn, and means descendant of Síodhach.
Síodhach means peaceful, from síoth, peace. A Munster family, and the name is still commonest within thirty miles of the Shannon estuary.
How it changes
- A man: Ó Síocháin
- His daughter: Ní Shíocháin
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Shíocháin
- The family together: Uí Shíocháin
Where it comes from
Limerick, Cork and Kerry
Also spelt
Sheehan, Sheahan, Shean
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.