Hey folks, I'm a McLain whose family came from the Meath/Westmeath border, and the name was really MacKeelane which became conflated with the Scottish MacLean. "Keelan" has some unclear theories on it's origin, some say it is from "Caolain" (slender lad) but it may in fact be an abbreviation of Keelaghan/Keleghan (from O'Ceileachain). It seems this theory holds some water and I've been researching the name. The reason I've picked Ardagh is because as far as existing records go, it has the longest Keelan tenancy presence with very large acreage (several hundred acres in 1854 in the adjoining townlands of Ardragh and Greaghlatacapel) were farmed by Keelans in the Griffiths Valuation. Also the presence of a Bryan McKeelan being the sole payer of the Hearth tax here in 1663 indicates it is probably a very old seat of the family.
I have since been building a Keelaghan/Keleghan/Keelan/Keelane DNA group on FamilyTreeDNA
https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/kelahan/about and am searching for a Keelan who has a paper trail to Ardragh or adjoining townlands to take part in the DNA project. At this time there are no Keelans anywhere in the Y-chromosome database, and much is to be discovered about this family lineage and whether or not they are really a branch of the Keelaghans (of which there are 3 participants in the group) or spawned from a separate surname (an individual named Caolain?).
If any Keelan men are willing, send me a message and I'd be happy to purchase and send a Y-test to you. Thank you in advance to anyone who has any interest. If you know any Keelans from Ardragh, please forward this message to them.
Chris McLain
