Scannlán mac Fearghal

Scannlán mac Fearghal, ancestor of the Ó Scannláin family of County Galway, fl. 10th century.

Scannlán was a member of the Uí Fiachrach Aidhne dynasty of south County Galway, and is listed in the genealogies as a seventeen-times great-grandson of King Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin of Connacht, who died in 663. His immediate descendants would use his name as their surname, and for a time be of some prominence in Aidhne, but were pushed out of power by their kinsmen and remained only a minor family, some moving to Thomond/County Clare.

Scannlán was a kinsman of a number of other men whose descendants also took their surnames from them, such as

• Comhaltan mac Maol Cúlaird - Ó Comhaltan/Colton/Coulton
• Seachnasach mac Donnchadh - Ó Seachnasaigh/Shaughnessy
• Eidhean mac Cléireach - Ó Cléirigh/Cleary
• Cathal mac Ógán - Ó Cathail/Cahill
• Giolla Ceallaigh mac Comhaltan - MacGiolla Ceallaigh/Kilkelly

Though in many cases the relationship between these men was quite distant, Scannlán would have been a contemporary or near-contemporary of almost all of them.

References

• The Surnames of Ireland, Edward MacLysaght, Dublin, 1978.
• Irish Kings and High Kings, Francis John Byrne, 2001 (second edition).
• The Great Book of Irish Genealogies, 257.9, pp. 586-87, volume one, Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh; edited, with translation and indices by Nollaig Ó Muraíle, 2003-2004. ISBN 0-946130-36-1.