(O)Keeffe;
Variant Spellings; Cuif, Keafe, Keefe, O'Cuiv, O'Keefe, O'Keeffe.
O'Keeffe is a County Cork name and one that, even in the height of penal times, kept its O prefix to a large degree. Their original territory was Glanmore, Co. Cork but they were driven westward from there by the Norman Roches. They settled and stayed in Duhallow County Cork, a district since called Pobal O'Keeffe.
Their eponymous ancestor was Art Caom, son of a King of Munster in the tenth century. In Irish the name is O Caoimh, meaning descended from Caom. Caom is the Gaelic word for noble or gentle.
Father Eoghan O'Keeffe (1656-1726) was a Gaelic poet whose songs are still sung in his native county. Like many of the Irish, members of the O'Keeffe sept went to the continent after the Williamite wars; in France the name was spelled Cuif.
Constantine O'Keeffe (1691-1745) served in the Irish Brigade in the French army and was admitted to the French aristocracy; General Patrick O'Keeffe was also a distinguished member of Ireland's 'Wild Geese'.
Daniel O'Keeffe (1740-1786) was an artist who exhibited at the Royal Academy in London; his brother John O'Keeffe (1740-1833) was an actor and playwright. The Lanigan-O'Keeffe family resulted from the marriage of John Lanigan to Frances O'Keeffe. Many of this family have settled in Australia and Zimbabwe.
Sean O Cuiv was a writer of children's stories in Irish. Georgia O'Keeffe was, of course, an artist of international reputation. Though married to Alfred Stiegliz, Ms. O'Keefe preferred to use her own name, also she did not sign her paintings.
Coat of Arms
O'Keeffe
Where the Family Lived (Blue Area)
Addresses for More Information
Ireland
Centre for Irish Genealogical and Local Studies, Carraig, Cliff Road, Windgates, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. (Sean Murphy, MA, Director)
General Register Office, 8-11 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 671 1000
Website http://www.doh.ie/manual/chap4/gere.htm
National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 478 3711
National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Telephone (01) 603 0200
Website www.heanet.ie/natlib
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 66 Balmoral Street, Belfast BT9 6NYY, Northern Ireland
Telephone (01232) 251319.
Website http://proni.nics.gov.uk/index.htm
University College Dublin, Adult Education Office, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Website http://www.ucd.ie/delltti
Britain
Family Records Centre, London, England.
Website http://pro.gov.uk/about/frc/default.htm
Public Records Office, Kew, Surrey, England.
Website http://www.pro.gov.uk
General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Website http://www.open.gov.uk/index.html
National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales.
Website http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.htm
North America
Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, Family History Information, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Website http://lds.org/en/ 2 how do I begin/0- how do I begin.html
Family Tree Maker’s Genealogy Site
Website http://www.familytreemaker.com/index.html
The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA), P.O. Box 619 Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.
Website http://tiari.ie
Irish Genealogical Society International, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Website http://www.rootsweb.com irish/index.html
New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston Massachusetts, USA.
Website http://nehgs.org/main-01.htm
Australasia
Genealogical Society of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Website http://www.alphalink.com/au/esv
National Archives of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Website http://www.aa.gov.au/AA_WWW/AA_Home_Page.html
National Archives of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Website http://www.archives.dia.gov.nz
List of Links
Cyndi’s List of Genealogical Sites on the Internet: Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Website http://www.cyndilist.com/ireland.htm
UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service.
Website http://www.genuki.org.uk
Copyright 1998 by A. MacDarragh Burke, MD
All Rights Reserved.