Kavanagh
Kavanagh
is one of the very few ancient Gaelic Irish surnames which has
neither the prefix Mac or O: it is wrong to call it O Caomhanach
in Irish as is sometimes erroneously done. In Irish it is simply
Caomhanach which is an adjective denoting association with Caomhan,
in this case St. Caomhan, the first Kavanagh having been fostered
by a successor of that saint. It was not customary for such
epithets to be perpetuated, as happened with this branch of
the MacMurroughs. The first Kavanagh was Donal son of Dermot
MacMurrough, King of Leinster, who was one one of the prominent
figures in Irish history, being the immediate cause of the Anglo-Norman
invasion. The Kavanagh territory lay then in Counties Wexford
and Carlow and they continued to be extensive landowners there
up to recent times. The name is very numerous in and around
Co. Wexford in all classes of society, so much so indeed that
they are enough Kavanaghs in the south-eastern counties of Leinster
by themselves, without counting the scattered Kavanaghs in the
rest of the country, to put the name in the list of the eighty
commonest surnames in the country: all told they hold fifty-third
place in that list. The agnomen Kavanagh was long associated
with the MacMurroughs, Art MacMurrough, the King of Leinster
who put up so determined a resistance to Richard II of England,
being styled Kavanagh. The Kavanaghs themselves have produced
a number of notable figures, none more picturesque than Arthur
MacMurrough Kavanagh (1831-1889), who, although he had only
stumps of arms and legs, overcame the disability and became
an expert horseman and fisherman, learned to write and draw
and was for many years a Member of Parliament. In the same century
Morgan Peter Kavanagh (1800-1874) and his daughter Julia Kavanagh
(1824-1877) were well-known authors in their day. Going back
to the sixteenth century there was Cahir Mac Art Kavanagh (1500-1554),
who took part in the Geraldine rebellion, and Art Kavanagh,
who was Hugh O'Neill's companion in the dramatic escape from
Dublin Castle in 1590. In the next century we find Brian Kavanagh,
one of the many Kavanaghs who fought for the Stuart cause, described
as the tallest man in King James's army; while among the Wild
Geese of the name Morgan Kavanagh, who rose to be Governor of
Prague in 1766, was said to be the biggest man in Europe. Several
Kavanaghs were officers in the Irish Brigade in the army of
France and a branch of the family settled in that country, but
it was in Austria they chiefly distinguished themselves. Two
were prominent in 1798 - Rev. Francis Kavanagh, who was one
of the leaders of the insurrection in Co. Wexford, and Walter
Cavanagh of Borris, Co. Carlow, nicknamed by the people "the
monarch" whose house was burned down by the insurgents. The
well-known song "Eileen Aroon", said to be composed by Carol
O'Daly in the thirteenth century, should be mentioned in connexion
with this family, the Eileen invoked being the daughter of the
Kavanagh chief of the time. Kavanagh is sometimes used as a
synonym for two often quite distinct surnames, affording an
example of the not uncommon process of attraction whereby some
well-known patronymic of somewhat similar sound is assumed in
place of the original name. O Caomhain, anglice O'Keevan and
Kevane, once an important sept in Mayo, where it has also been
maladroitly turned into Cavendish, is one; the other is O Caibhdeaniigh
of Ossory, an obsolete form of Gaffney.
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