Ó Leannáin

Rev Patrick Woulfe

1923

Ó LEANNÁIN—I—O Lennane, O Lennan, Linnane, Lannan, Lannen, Lannon, Lennon, (Leonard); 'descendant of Leannán' (diminutive of leann, a cloak or mantle); the name of at least three distinct families, seated respectively in the counties of Fermanagh, Mayo and Galway. The O'Leannains of Fermanagh were an ecclesiastical family and erenaghs of Lisgoole, near Enniskillen. Those of Mayo are a branch of the Ui Fiachrach and were seated in the neighbourhood of Killala, while the Galway family were followers of O'Kelly of Ui Maine. All these families are still well represented, but the name is very often disguised under the anglicised form of Leonard. The pronunciation is sometimes Ó Lionnáin, sometimes Ó Liondáin.

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