Lennon - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Leannáin
Meaning: “lover, sweetheart”
Traditional stronghold: Galway, Fermanagh
John Lennon’s people were of Irish stock.
Pronunciation: LEN-un; Irish Ó Leannáin: oh LAN-aw-in
History of the Lennon name
Lennon stands mainly for Ó Leannáin, variously explained as deriving from leann, a cloak, or leannán, meaning lover or sweetheart, and it absorbed the similar Ó Lonáin, from lon, a blackbird. Distinct families of the name arose in Fermanagh, where the Ó Leannáin were erenaghs (hereditary custodians of church lands) at Lisgoole Abbey near Enniskillen, and in Galway and Cork. In parts of the country the name was 'improved' to Leonard, so the two surnames are often interchangeable in old records. Lennon is today most associated with the Ulster borderlands, Dublin and Louth, and, through one Liverpool family of Dublin origin, with the most famous Beatle of all.
Variants: Lennan · Leonard · O'Lennon
Famous bearers of the name
- John Lennon - Beatles founder whose family roots trace to Dublin.
- Neil Lennon - Lurgan-born footballer, captain and later manager of Celtic.
- Peter Lennon - Irish journalist and director of the landmark 1968 documentary Rocky Road to Dublin.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Kelly · Lynch · Connolly · Burke · Maguire · Clarke · Hughes · Flanagan