McCann — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Cana
Meaning: 'son of the wolf cub'
Traditional stronghold: Armagh
Pronunciation: mick-KAN; Irish Mac Cana: mock KON-a
History of the McCann name
McCann is Mac Cana, from cana, 'wolf cub', a name borne by a warlike sept who were lords of Clanbrassil, the district along the southern shore of Lough Neagh in County Armagh. Their chiefs appear in the annals from the eleventh century, often contending with their neighbours of Oriel, and after the collapse of the Gaelic order the family remained rooted in the same country. McCann is today one of the most numerous names of Armagh, Tyrone and Belfast, and the diaspora has carried it to prominence in literature, acting and journalism.
Variants: MacCann · McCanna · Canna
Famous bearers of the name
- Colum McCann — Dublin-born novelist who won the US National Book Award for Let the Great World Spin.
- Donal McCann — Acclaimed Dublin stage actor, unforgettable in John Huston's The Dead.
- Eamonn McCann — Derry journalist and veteran civil-rights campaigner.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · Garvey · O'Hanlon · Larkin · Doran · Traynor · Haughey · Loughran