The MacEgan, Egan, Eagan & Keegan Families

Pronunciation and Spelling: Mac Aodhagàin (mock-ay-gon)

The root of this name is Aedh (ay). The son of Aedh would have been Mac (mock), and gàin (gon), being the diminutive form of any word, would have been used to indicate the lesser of, (or in this case the descendant of), the root word, so Mac Aedhgàin would have been the descendant of the son of Aedh. In the past, the spelling was Mac Aedgàin - the h having been replaced by a dot over the D. This was also seen as Aodagàin, again with a dot over the D. The first is now very seldom seen. In the first half of the 1900's, modern Irish spelling contracted the name to Mac Aogàin, retaining the same pronunciation as the full Mac Aodhagàin, however English pronunciation changed this to Mac Egan. We currently know of only two families, one in West Kerry and one in Australia using the Mac Aogàin spelling. The Mac Aodhagàins began in East Gallway and gradually moved to North Tipperary, just a few miles away, settling in Redwood Castle. Once there, their power as judges (brehons), to the powerful area rulers, (including the Kennedy family), kept the clan well cared for and somewhat isolated from the rest of the country. Therefore, as one moves away from the heartland, one starts to see all the various spellings of the name, mainly because no one from outside the area knew precisely how to spell it. The name Keegan is an understandable variation as well, as there is no K in the Irish language, but, the Irish pronunciation of Mac being mock, would prompt an Englishman to include a K, therefore Mock-ay-gon, losing the Mac, became K-ay-gon, or Keegan. It is interesting to note that in Antrim, Ireland and in parts of Scotland, there are several Mac Keegan families. In the center of Ireland, near the original Clan area, Egan is still pronounced Ay-gon. If you imagine people arriving in the US with the name Aogàin, perhaps knowing only the pronunciation, it is easy to see the formation of the differing spellings that have survived today: Eagan, Egan, Eagen, Agen, Egen, Hegane and Hagen. Egan is the spelling now most commonly used.

Audio Zip files of various pronunciations and their history by Clan Chief Michael JS Egan: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

See Also: Aodhagain Brehons Learning to pronounce Gaelic

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