Meg,
The Scottish surname MacKEAN (variants MacKANE or MacKAIN) is found in counties Derry and Donegal.
It was originally MacIAIN. There are MacIAN septs of Clan GUNN, and also of the MacDONALDs of Ardnamurchan and of Glencoe in Argyllshire.
McKEAN in Co. Monaghan is properly MUCKIAN or MUCKEEN, deriving from Gaelic O MOCHAIDHEAN.
They were a leading sept in the barony of Cremorne.
Ref:
The Book of Ulster Surnames
Robert Bell
The Blackstaff Press 1988
ISBN 0-85640-416-0
pp 106-107 KANE
Lots of good stuff there also about the ...
... Scottish LAMONT (properly LAMOND) clan of Cowal, Argyllshire; p.117
[Originally from Ulster.]
... Anglo-Norman family GRAHAM; pp. 81-82
of Grantham (Lincolnshire), Abercorn (West Lothian),
and later in the West March "disputed lands" of the Scottish Borders;
[Strong presence in Roscommon, Antrim & Fermanagh later ...]
... Welsh Norman family DE MANDEVILLE; p.181
who wrested Dunluce Castle & The Route in North Antrim from the O'KANE clan,
and who also took over the barony of Dufferin in Co. Down;
They adopted the Gaelic name MAC UIGHILIN, later anglicised as MACQUILLAN.
[Got chased out when the MACDONNELL clan invaded from Scotland.]
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I've seen that BRYANS name in connection with the WHITTLE family in early 18thC Lisburn.
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John BALANCE deriving from a family near Glenavy was Prime Minister of New Zealand in the 1890s.
Capt. Jock
