Naughton ( or ) is an Irish Gaelic surname derived from the name Ó Neachtain meaning 'descendant of Nechtan'. A Sept of the Dal gCais of the same stock as Quinn and Hartigan where located in Inchiquin Barony, County Clare. Another O'Neachtain Sept of the Uí Maine who were chiefs of Máenmaige, the plain lying around Loughrea in Galway, until the Cambro-Norman invasion. After the upheaval they settled in the Fews (Barony of Athlone, County Roscommon). O'Neachtain appears as Chief of the Fews in several sixteenth century manuscripts, and as late as the eighteen eighties the Naughtons of Thomastown Park possessed an estate of 4829 acre between Athlone and Ballinasloe. The English surname Norton has occasionally been substituted for Naughton. The Nortons of Athlone are descended from Feradach O'Neachtain who died in 1790. In County Kerry, Behan or Behane was used interchangeably with Naughton.

Places

Surname of people

Similar surnames

Historical forms of the name

The surname had undergone a change over the years. Naghtens or O'Naghtens (1870).