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Shannon
Origin
Language(s)Old Irish[1]
Word/namesenchaid[1]
Derivationcognate
Meaningskilled storyteller
Other names
Variant form(s)MacShannon, O'Shannon
Cognate(s)senchaid

Shannon, MacShannon, and O'Shannon are Anglicised Irish and Scottish surnames that derive from the Gaelic word seanachaidh, which means "skilled storyteller".[1] Seanachaidh is descended from the Old Irish word senchaid.

Other forms of the name are O'Shawnessey or O'Shannahan.

Several old Gaelic names of Scottish and Irish people alike were Anglicised as Shannon, despite being unrelated.[citation needed]

The 1990 United States Census found that Shannon was a very common surname (#679 out of 88,799) in the United States.[2]

People with the surname Shannon

Academics

Artists

Journalists

Military personnel

Politicians

Scientists

Sportspeople

Others

Fictional characters

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Shannon". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Fourth ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2009. ISBN 9780395825174. OCLC 43499541. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  2. ^ Campbell, Mike. "Shannon". Behind the Name. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
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