Quoting....."Eric Strennen" <EStrennen@ponymail.com> >Hi listers, >Although I've not had luck finding the birthplace of Michael STREENAN, my >ggggrandfather listed in an 1861 England census whose birthplace is listed >as Ireland, I've found some close variations of this surname in Co. >Monaghan. I recently viewed the Householders Index for Co. Monaghan at my >local FHC and there are a lot of surnames that end in -EENAN, e.g. SREENAN, >SHREENAN, GREENAN, BREENAN, SHEENAN. Does anyone know if this part of the >surname has any Irish/Celtic meaning or why there are so many located in Co. >Monaghan? Thanks for any responses. > >Regards, >Eric Strennen > Here's a clue as to its meaning; HEENAN: AONAN (aon = "the one") a quo O'h-Aonain, anglicised HEENAN. Also, the same page of the book (Irish Pedigrees, by O'Hart) states that "Aonan" signifies "the darling of the family". KEENAN is an anglisization of CAOINAIN (caoin = "mild", an = "one who"). It seems that EENAN is part of the English translations of AONAIN and CAOIN, and maybe some other Irish names. Therefore the EENAN part can have more than one meaning. I think you names you gave above are all English translations of original Irish names.