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Surname Etymology and Meaning of SHANNON

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

(origin: Gaelic.) From the Shannon, a river of Ireland. The tranquil, gentle river, from sen, gentle, and abhain, a river. Shan-eon, the tranquil river. S before a vowel, in the Gaelic, has the sound of sh. The river Seine, in France, has the same signification. Shanon--the ancient river, from sean, old, and oun or obhain, a river.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

1. reduced form of Shanahan.
2. reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Seanáin ‘descendant of Seanán’, a personal name based on a pet form of seán ‘old’.
3. in County Clare, a reduced Anglicized form of Mac Giolla tSeanáin ‘son of the servant of St. Seanán’. In the Irish midlands Leonard and Nugent have been adopted as equivalents of this name.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)