This Irish surname is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic "MacCana", a patronymic of the personal byname "Cana", from "cano", wolf cub. Traditionally, Irish family names are taken from the heads of tribes, revered elders, or some illustrious warrior, and are usually prefixed by "Mac", son of, or "O", denoting "grandson, male descendant of. The territory of this great sept lay on the southern shores of Lough Neagh, and the MacCanas were lords of Clanbrassil, a district in County Armagh originally occupied by the O'Garveys.
Several members of the sept are described in the "Annals of the Four Masters"; the last to be mentioned in the Annals was killed in 1260. Donnell MacCanna, Chief of Clanbrassil, was recorded in 1598, and the surname is still widespread in the vicinity of Lough Neagh, though uncommon elsewhere. Examples of recordings include on October 11th 1687, Patrick McCann and Ann McBride were married at Clones, County Monaghan, whilst on March 23rd 1866, Catherine Macken was christened at Kilkeel, County Down. The famous poem "O'Donnell Abu" was written by Michael Joseph MacCann (1824 - 1883), and seventy-eight persons bearing the name McCann appear on a "List of Irish Famine Immigrants Arriving at the Port of New York", between the years 1846 to 1851. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Amhlaibh Mac Canna, which was dated 1155, in the "Annals of the Four Masters", during the reign of Turlough Mor O'Conor, High King of Ireland, 1119 - 1156. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
The origin, the coat of arms or the different heraldic shields, and the bibliography in which the surname macken is mentioned are part of this exciting investigation.
The list of countries with a higher presence of people with the surname macken provides us with a perspective on the history of the surname, beyond its origins, focusing on its migrations.
For those like you, who are interested in the history hidden behind the surname macken, it is essential to find all kinds of information, both direct and tangential, that helps to construct a solid narrative of how the birth and expansion of macken developed.
We keep our website updated through our own research and also thanks to contributions from people like you, after verification; so if you have information about macken and send it to us, we will update it on this website.
Sadly, not all the contributions of those who bore the surname macken were recorded by the chroniclers of the time.
The origin, history, coat of arms or different coats of arms, and the heraldry of macken are recorded in a wide variety of sources and documents that are essential to know for better compilation.
These sources are essential for initiating the understanding of macken, and at the same time, of surnames in general.