Condon - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Condún
Meaning: Norman, from Caunteton
Traditional stronghold: Cork
Pronunciation: KON-dun; Irish Condún: kon-DOON
History of the Condon name
Condon is a gaelicised Norman name: the de Cauntetons (or Cantitons), a Cambro-Norman family from Wales, settled in northeast Cork soon after the invasion and became so completely hibernicised that their name evolved into Condún. Their power base around Kilworth and the Araglin valley is permanently recorded in the barony name Condons and Clangibbon, and Cloghleagh castle near Kilworth was a principal stronghold. The family lost heavily in the Desmond wars and Cromwellian confiscations but the name remained rooted in the Cork-Limerick-Tipperary-Waterford borderland, where it is still most numerous. In the Fenian era it gained fame when Edward O'Meagher Condon's defiant words from the dock inspired the anthem 'God Save Ireland'.
Variants: Caunteton · Condún · Congdon
Famous bearers of the name
- Edward O'Meagher Condon - Fenian whose 1867 speech from the dock in Manchester gave Ireland the rallying cry 'God save Ireland'.
- Richard Condon - Irish-American novelist, author of The Manchurian Candidate.
- Colm Condon - Attorney General of Ireland from 1965 to 1973.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · O'Sullivan · McCarthy · Daly · Collins · Flynn · Healy · Casey