Mannion - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Mainnín
Meaning: descendant of Mainnín
Traditional stronghold: Galway
Pronunciation: MAN-yun; Irish O Mainnin: oh MAN-in
History of the Mannion name
Mannion derives from O Mainnin, an old Connacht sept whose exact root meaning is uncertain but may connect to a personal name Mannin. The family were located in County Galway, in the barony of Tiaquin, where they held lands and gave their name to the district for centuries before losing power like most Gaelic lords after the seventeenth-century confiscations. The surname stayed remarkably concentrated in its home county rather than spreading widely, and Galway remains overwhelmingly its main centre today, with far smaller numbers in neighbouring Mayo and Roscommon. Mannion kept its Gaelic form through anglicisation with little alteration.
Variants: Manning (in some cases) · O'Mannion
Famous bearers of the name
- Sean Mannion - Connemara-born boxer who fought for the WBA light-middleweight world title in New York in 1984
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Kelly · Lynch · Connolly · Burke · Clarke · Hughes · Keane · Kenny