Hi Karen, >From a quick look at the 1901 & 1911 census records, neither Bawn or Baron were very common surnames. In fact, Ellen Bawn aged 14 and living with a Hughes family in the Glaslough area is the only person of that name I can find. Have you any idea of what year the Ross & Mary McKenna you mention were married, or what area of the county they were from, etc? With McKenna being such a common surname in the county, many families have nicknames to differentiate them from other families in an area. The Mary you mention might well have been a McKenna also, but Bawn may have been her family nickname. Bawn would most likely come from the Irish word Bán meaning White. Someone in her family may have had distinctive white hair, or a pale complexion for example and picked up that nickname. Unfortunately, nicknames were not used very often on official documents which can make researching surnames like this difficult! Regards, Seán  Karen wrote: Hi, can anyone tell me if the surname of either Bawn or Baron is one from Monaghan? I have it as a possible surname for my great great great grandmother who married Ross McKenna in the 1800s. Before I came across this information, she was always recorded as a Mary McKenna in any certificates I had. Regards, Karen.