Kavanagh or Kavanaugh is a surname of Irish origin, Caomhánach in Irish. It is one of the few Irish surnames that does not traditionally have an O or a Mac in either English or Irish (as it was is an adjectival or descriptive surname). "Ach" is a suffix meaning "related to, having, characterised by, prone to" or "person or thing connected or involved with, belonging to, having". Caomhánach means relating to or belonging to Caomhán. The first Kavanagh (Domhnall Caomhánach) was fostered by the coarb at St. Caomhan's abbey. The meaning " It is also known as Mac Murchadha Caomhánach (an example of an Irish agnomen; see Ó Catharnaigh Sionnach or Fox of Fir Teathbha), but is often now rendered 'Caomhánach '. Rarely it is referred to as 'Ó Caomhánaigh' or 'Ní Caomhánaigh'.

Origin and history

"Kavanagh" and "Kavanaugh" are anglicised variations of the Irish surname Caomhánach (Cʌoṁʌ̃nʌċ in traditional Gaelic script). The surname was first assumed by Domhnall Caomhánach (the eldest son of the 12th-century king of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada) in Ireland. A considerable number of anglicised variations of Caomhánach exist, with some of the most common being: "Kavanagh", "Cavanagh", "Kavanaugh" and "Cavanaugh". Later descendants have sometimes added an O or Mac to the name in error, likely in an ill-informed attempt to de-anglicise the name. The addition of the O and Mac appeared to change more frequently in families who had emigrated Griffith's survey noted the following between in Ireland between (1842–1854): Kavanagh (2,038), Cavanagh (434), Cavenagh (11) Kavenagh (4) O' Kavanagh (3). The inclusion of a letter "u" in the name appears to have originated in the U.S. e.g. "Cavanaugh" and "Kavanaugh". The surname was possibly adopted by Síl Fáelchán clansmen in preference to the earlier name MacMurrough, given the prestige associated with the dynamic junior line that seized the chiefship of the Uí Cheinnselaig tribal group in the High Middle Ages. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the Kavanaghs were one of the chiefly families of the Uí Ceinnselaig who in turn were a tribe from the Dumnonii or Laigin who were the third wave of Celts to settle in Ireland during the first century BC. The Kavanaghs as one of the chiefly families of the Uí Ceinnselaig is supported by John O'Hart in his 1892 Irish Pedigrees; or, The Origin and Stem of The Irish Nation.

Notable people surnamed Kavanagh or Kavanaugh

Fictional characters