McCann Surname in Ireland
The Griffith Valuation was a survey done in the years from
1848-1864 of everyone who owned and/or rented
land in Ireland. Since no census records of
Ireland exist for this time period, the Griffith
Valuation is the only way of learning who lived
where in Ireland at that time.
The map above shows the distribution of the
surname McCann in Ireland in the mid-1800s as
listed in the Griffith Valuation of Ireland. The
color of a county indicates the how many
McCanns were listed as residing there in the
mid-1800s. Bright green indicates the counties
that had the largest number of McCanns. Lighter
shades of green indicate counties containing fewer
McCanns, while dark gray and light gray indicate
counties with even fewer McCanns. Counties that
contained less than 50 McCanns are not colored -
so the map only shows where 85% of the McCanns
were living.
According to the
historical account,
the McCanns lived on the southern shore of Lough Neagh in County Armagh after having displaced the O'Garveys from
that area sometime before the mid-1100's. The map shows that many of the McCanns were still in
County Armagh in the mid-1800's. There were also significant numbers of McCanns
in counties Tyrone, Antrim, and Down.
There were about 1900 McCanns listed in the Valuation. About a fifth of
these of these were in County Armagh, and half of all McCanns were found within the four counties of Armagh,
Antrim, Tyrone, and Down. About one out of every 500 Irishmen was a McCann.
McCann Coat of Arms: Blue with a gold trellis design and a silver stripe through the middle on which there is a red
boar.
Motto: "Crescit Sub Pondere Virtus"
The maps below show the distribution of McCanns in various counties down to the civil parish level:
Post a message regarding your interest in McCann genealogy
Click here to see examples of distribution
mappings of other Irish surnames.
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