Heaney — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó hÉanna
Meaning: 'descendant of Éanna'
Traditional stronghold: Derry, Fermanagh
Pronunciation: HEE-nee; Irish Ó hÉanna: oh HAY-na
History of the Heaney name
Heaney chiefly represents Ó hÉanna, from the ancient personal name Éanna, borne most famously by St Enda of Aran. Several distinct families used the name: the most historically significant, sometimes given as Ó hÉighnigh, provided early kings of Fermanagh before the rise of the Maguires, while other septs arose in south Derry and in Connacht, where the Irish form Ó hÉanaí survives strongly in Conamara. South Derry, around Bellaghy and the shores of Lough Neagh, became the name's most famous townland through Seamus Heaney, whose poetry rooted the family farm at Mossbawn in world literature and earned the Nobel Prize in 1995.
Variants: Heany · Heeney · O'Heaney
Famous bearers of the name
- Seamus Heaney — Bellaghy-born poet, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.
- Joe Heaney — Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, the great sean-nós singer of Carna, Conamara.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Connor · Maguire · Doherty · Flanagan · McLoughlin · Cassidy · Kane · Lennon