While investigating the most dense portion of my McClean surname cluster which is on the Cavan-side of Lough Sheelin (several freeholds in Ballymachugh parish with 20-100 acres being farmed by McCleans; a little too significant to overlook). I noticed the townlands were inundated with Leahy/Laughy/Lahy families and they seemed distinct from the clusters of Ó Laochdha (and similar) names around Ireland. Numerous but geographically isolated, it seems these Leahys are probably a mutated variant of another name. It reminded me of "Mac an Leagha" (son of the Physician) which is concentrated around Kilmore and mostly anglicized to MacAlea, McCanley, McLee, Lee, but sometimes erroneously anglicized to McClean (Mac Leagh'an?) which for a long time in the back of my mind could be the origin of my McCleans. There are many origins for "Lee" and analysis of the name alone is too open-ended and numerous. Digging a little further, there is Mac Dhuinnsleibhe around Granard (Dunleavy/Leavy) which was noted to be a family of physicians from Ulster that was scattered in the 12th/13th centuries, but occurred there mostly as O'Duinnsleibhe in Donegal. However, a Mac prefix would aspirate the "D" creating "Mac'anleavy, which if losing its internal "Bh" fricative, creates Mac'anlea and Mc'Alay. Checking the Elizabethan fiants of Annaly (Longford) in the 1580s reveal "M'Enleavie" and "M'Enlea" individuals around Granard and Killoe parishes. I'm wondering if any of the Cavan Leahys unearthed the same possibilities. If any are out there and would like to do joint research, or would like to participate in YDNA to actually prove or disprove these origins, please get in touch with me. I run the "Cenel Brenainn Project" on FamilyTreeDNA..
https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/mc-govern/activity-feed
