One sept named óBanáin had its territory in Co. Tipperary where families named Bannon still reside; another ÓBanáin was from Co. Fermanagh. The name Bannon is also found in Co. Westmeath where a branch of the family bore the arms: Vert, an Irish wolfhound courant argent between three trefoils slipped or. (O) BANNON, Banim (O) BANNAGHAN At the present time the name Bannon is widely scattered throughout the four provinces of Ireland, with a slight preponderance in Co. Tipperary and Co. Cavan. One of the several distinct mediaeval septs of Ó Banáin was seated at Léim Uí Bhanáin, now Leap Castle, in the Barony of Clonlisk, i.e. the southern end of Co. Offaly near Roscrea, which is in Co. Tipperary. In 1659 Bannon is recorded as numerous in that barony and also in that of Lower Ormond, Co. Tipperary, where however Petty’s census enumerators (erroneously) equated Bannon with Bane. The Hearth Money Rolls of approximately the same date confirm the prevalence of the name Bannon in Co. Tipperary. The census enumerators also found O’Banon numerous in Co. Fermanagh. The pedigree of Muintir Bhanáin is among the Fermanagh pedigrees (compiled about 1712) which occupy nearly 100 pages of Hibernica No. 3. Of this sept, no doubt, were Maelpatrick O’Banan, Bishop of Connor from 1152 to 1172, and Gelasius O’Banan, Abbot of Clones, who was Bishop of Clogher from 1316 to 1319. The Book of Lecan places Ó Banáin at Baile Uí Bhanáin, now Ballybannon, which is in the parish of Partry, on the western side of Lough Mask. In 1585 the Composition of Connacht found an O’Bannaghan possessed of an estate at Rathmullen, Co. Sligo and in 1659 O’Bennaghan appears as one of the principal names in the barony of Tirerrill, Co. Sligo. This is probably not a variant of Bannon but Ó Beannacháin (Ó Bethnacháin in mediaeval Irish manuscripts). O’Flaherty counts the O’Bannaghans as of Firboig descent. Banim is believed to be a corrupt form of Bannon. It is made famous by the brothers Michael Banim (1796-1865) and John Banim (1798-1842), the novelists: they were born in Kilkenny and were presumably of the sept dealt with in the first paragraph above. De Burgh’s Landowners of Ireland (1878) includes the large and valuable estate of Bannon of Broughill Castle, near Frankfort (or Kilcormac), Co. Offaly.