Good morning, Longford Forum. I have been researching my Macleans in Ireland for quite some time. Our YDNA shows we are native to the Breifne/midlands area. I had long attributed this surname there to a gallowglass family who were in Cavan over 500 years ago, but I may have stumbled across something else that leads me in another direction.
Yesterday I was doing some searching and trying to find if estate rolls existed for an ancestor's 12 acre holding in Kildardon, Co. Longford (Forgney p., Shrule b.). I was on logainm.ie because they list textual records of townlands with sources on how the spelling of the name has changed over time (maps, patent rolls etc). I saw that Kildordan was mentioned in the Elizabethan Fiants in 1602. So getting into the fiants, I find the occupier being pardoned, one Donnell Og O'Farrell. But around him in the same list of pardons were several MacGiollaChlaoins. (Donnell M'Gillecleyne of Castlerea, Tho. M'Gillakleyne, gent., of Mornin). I knew the surname Cleen/Clyne/Cleyne was around this area but had no idea what it had anglicized from (Pender's Census: 6 "Cleene" families in Ardagh b.). Johngrenham.com actually lists "Cleene" as an anglicization of Maclean but due to me finding only Cleens in Ardagh, and 1 Maclean family around Edgeworthstown, I disregarded this, as it did not seem like a family cluster that was originally "Maclean". It turns out that this "M'Gillecleyne" surname originated in Northeastern Roscommon near Lough Kilglass and anglicized there to "Kilcline" but in Longford it largely anglicized to Clyne/Cleene. I found that in a Connaught dialect, the word Claon is pronounced "Clee-uhn".
I did find another fiant quite some time ago of a James M'Lyne in McGeoghegan country in 1570 (southern westmeath). Did I catch M'Gillecleyne mid-anglicization to something other than Clyne?
Did some of the M'Gillecleynes anglicize to M'Cleyne and then M'Clane?
I think in order for my theory to hold water, I need to find some Cleene/Clyne folks and see if we are paternally related. If anyone here knows any in Longford (I believe there could also be Clynes from Scotland anglicized from something else, so I am specifically looking for a Longford paper trail), please send me a message, I would love to get in touch.
Chris McLain Beal
