O'Kane — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: O Cathain
Meaning: 'descendant of Cathan' (cath, battle)
Traditional stronghold: Derry
Pronunciation: oh-KAYN; Irish O Cathain: oh KA-hawn
History of the O'Kane name
O'Kane derives from O Cathain, built on cath, meaning battle. The family were one of the most powerful septs of the Cenel Eoghain in medieval Ulster, ruling the extensive lordship of Keenaght in what is now County Derry, and they held the traditional right to place the shoe on the foot of the O'Neill chieftain during his inauguration ceremony, a mark of their high status within the wider Ulster Gaelic order. Their power endured until the early seventeenth-century plantation of Ulster broke up their lands along with those of most other Gaelic lords. O'Kane remains strongly associated with County Derry and the wider north-west today.
Variants: Kane · Keane (in Ulster usage) · O'Cahan
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Connor · Doherty · McLoughlin · Kane · Quigley · Harkin · McCloskey · Mullan