| A few words about surname. To stop all groundless speculations. Once and for ever. |
| "... there are many indisputably Irish surnames not indigenous in England which assumed in their anglicised form a completely English appearance. What, for example, could be more English in appearance than Gleeson, Buggy, Cashman, Halfpenny and Doolady, to cite only a few examples. All of these are genuine Gaelic surnames and surprisingly numerous." (The Distortion of Irish Surnames) (O) KISSANE, Cashman (O) CUSSANE, Patterson The Irish name Kissane used in Kerry, has been changed to Cashman in Co. Cork: O'Kissane was still the form used in Co. Cork at the time of the Cromwellian Settlement, as the various seventeenth century records show. In Irish this surname is ? Cios?in. Guissane is found in west Clare. There is another Gaelic name ? Cas?in, that of one of the eight Sodhans, i.e. the septs located in the Hy Many or Ui Maine country which were not of the same race as that group. The best known of the others are O'Mannin, O'Lennon, MacWard and O'Dugan. ? Cas?in was formerly anglicized Kissane but is almost obsolete in Connacht where Cussane and Paterson are the modern equivalents of ? Cas?in. Patterson can be explained by the fact that cas?n means a path, locally pronounced "pat", which is the first syllable of Patterson. (According to goireland.com) "During these visits to Gullane I remember meeting Charlie O'Leary, the last Irish speaker of Sliabh Luachra. When I was older and able to understand Irish he said to me,'Duine de mhuintir Chiosain tusa.' 'I am not,' I said. 'My name is Kelly.' 'Then your mother was a Kissane,' he persisted. 'No,' I told him, 'her name was Cashman.' 'Ah, that explains it,' he said. 'The first man of your mother's name to come to these quarters to rent a bit of land was asked by Lord Kenmare's agent, "What is your name?" "Tadhg O Ciosain," the man answered. "I am tired of unpronounceable and unwritable names," said the agent. "From now on you are Cashman." The new name went down in the book and my ancestor lost his Gaelic nomenclature. " (From a Foreword written by Eamonn Kelly for the Stone Mad for Music. The Sliabh Luachra Story Author: Donal Hickey. Published by Marino Books ISBN 1 86023 097 0 |