KAIGHIN ORIGINS

“Manannan’s Horsemen”

 

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Patrynomic origin

Epidi

 

Early Roman expeditions in Britain recorded tribal names that were later used by second century Greek geographer Ptolemy to create the earliest known tribal map of Britain.  Among those Ptolemy recorded is a Pictish tribe settled in the area around the Mull of Kintyre in Argyll, known as the  Epidii.  Likely

 

http://www.kintyremag.co.uk/1999/36/page6.html

Writing in the second century AD, Ptolemy tells us of a tribe called Epidili who stretched 'eastwards' from the Epidion Akron ('Horse Point'), by which he meant the Mull of Kintyre in Argyll (Watson 1925: 24). The area of south and mid Argyll and the Firth of Clyde contains a great many churches dedicated to Brigid (a great many Kilbrides, in other words), and that suggests the possible existence there of a Brigid cult in pagan times. The old Irish story Aided Chonroi mentions Aird Echddi i Cinn Tire. Echde lived there, so the name may mean Echde's Point, or Horse Point, or the Epidian Point. The tale also mentions Tor Echde (a broch, perhaps), meaning Echde's Tower, or Horse Tower, or the Epidian Tower. The Epidii would have been Britons or possibly Picts. Macbain felt that they must have been so named from their horsemanship (Macbain 1893-4: 230), and Watson remarked that they were probably horse-breeders and horse-breakers, but I am sure there is more to it than that. Horses lie so deep in the naming practices of Kintyre and some adjacent areas that one gets a strong whiff of totemism. Watson himself pointed out that 'Kintyre is the home of the MacEacherns, whose name is an anglicisation of Mac Each - thighearna, 'Son of Horse-lord'. (Watson 1926: 23-4) Also meaning 'Horse-lord' is Eachd(h)onn, which became Eachann or Hector, traditionally a favourite name in the area from Kintyre north to Mull, Coll and Tiree. (Macbain 1896: 361-2).

   It is to a twice-over bearer of a horse-name, Eachann M.MacDhughaill from Coll, that I will give the last word on this matter, translating from his paper Beachdachadh mu Ainmhighean na Gaidhealtachd ('Some Thoughts on the Animals of the Highlands'). Speaking of such by-names, he says:

The lona folk, the Jura folk, and the Kintyre folk are called na h-Eich ('the Horses'). At one time the Jura folk in particular would be particularly enraged at this nickname, The Knapdale people, as their nearest neighbours on the mainland, were always casting this at them, and since their own nickname was an Crodh-Maol ('the Hornless Cows'), the insults were never spared - na h-Eich on one side of the kyle and an Crodh-Maol on the other.(4)  Strangely enough, the same scenario was enacted with reference to the nicknames on both sides of the Sound of Iona: the eich ('horses') of Iona were on the one side, and the gamhna ('stirks') of the Ross and Creich on the other.

After referring to the Epidii of Kintyre he concludes:

This proves that it was not today or yesterday that this name was given to the Kintyre folk, and that in spite of all the new blood that has come into that part of the country, at the time the Scots came over [from Ireland] for one, the name has stuck to them to the present time. Such names go far deeper into the roots of our history than people generally realise. (MacDhughaill 1929-30: 117-8.)

 

 

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/DavidDale1/Part_1.htm#6

There has been much controversy over whether or not the Cruithin (Irish "Picts") and the Scottish Cruithne ("Picts") share the same origins due to a lack of similar characteristics in the dark age period. These differences can certainly be explained : Ireland does not have the same terrain as Scotland. Scotland is far more mountainous and with little continuous contact possible between tribes in the Northern region of Britain, then the development of culture would surely have taken different directions to that of the Cruithne of Ireland, particularly as by the early part of the 2nd century AD Britain would have been split into those areas occupied by the Romans, and those occupied by native tribes. In Ireland contact and cross-cultural relationships with other tribes would have been far more common. Alfred Smith in his award winning book "Warlords and Holy Men", makes it clear that, in his opinion - and it is an opinion with which I agree, the Picts of North East Scotland were more than likely related to the Cruithne of Ulster.

 

Contemporary theory may suggest a combination of the two.

The below names are likely derivatives of the Celtic patronymic surname MacEachain.  It is not to be implied that all persons with these names share a common ancestor.  As it was common practice by parents to name their son after his father, any Eachan’s son could have became “MacEachain”.   So the source of any derivative of MacEachain could have originated from a number of distinct individuals.  That said, it is my opinion that there were originally two distinctly different groups of MacEachains in Scotland that could have claimed to be “Clan MacEachain,” one a sect of Clan Donald in the areas of Moydart, Arisaig and Uist, and the other, the MacEachains who populated Galloway and surrounding areas, the latter having a much earlier origin.  Those of Clan Donald were the hereditary chiefs of Clan Donald and their history is well documented and their progenitor lived in the 15th century. 

The last living hereditary chief of Clan MacEachain, John Alexander McCaughan claims that the original Eachain, the progenitor of the Galloway clan, came from Ulster and settled in Galloway in A.D 247:

“In A.D. 247 Eachain led his tribe, and along with other Ulster Picts, "swarmed across the north channel (which separated Ireland from Scotland) into Galloway, and either dispossed, exterminated or absorbed the Novantee", who sparsely occupied the district being possessed. Eachain seemingly established his Duthus, or home, on the lands running eastward from the north-east side of Glenluce Bay, which in time got the family name "An Duthaig MacEachain", which was his seat at Duncruithne, "the Picts Castle".”

 

            Ann Kaighin of the Isle of Man Family History Society says she has evidence that our Manx MacEachains came over to the Isle of Man from Galloway with the timber used to build Peel Castle and other forts on the island.  There is historical evidence that lends credence to this theory. The Manx Chronicles states that in the year 1098, Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, Son of Olave, after visiting the Isle of Man, chose it for his abode and “he compelled the men of Galloway to cut timber and bring it to the shore for construction of forts.”  Ann says that a group of these early Kaighins were granted a tract of land in Kirk German, not far from Peel Castle. 

From Appendices to Munch’s Chronicle of Man, Appendix 35 mention is made of a Thomas de Cakan, a servant of William, Bishop of Sodor in 1351.  One of the earliest mentions of a Kaighin in the official records of the Isle of Man is that of a Gilbert McHanghan (or Machaughen) who was indentured in 1417 to Lord John Stanley.  This can be found in Indentura Castrum de Rushen, the oldest record of Castle Rushen.  In 1422, a Finlo McCacken (or McCaighen) of Kirk Michael was involved in the uprising against John Walton, Lieutenant Governor of Man and with several of his co-conspirators was convicted and subsequently quartered and his head removed.  The Manorial Rolls of 1511 list a Peter McCaken at Freshgarth, Rushen, a William McCaken at Croknese, Rushen, and a Robert Caken at Shandhall, Rushen.  The Manorial Rolls of 1515 list a Richard McCaghen in Sartedale, Kirk German.  The Liber Vast links a Gilbert Caighin buried about 1576 with a Robert McCaighin, possibly his father.  Parish records and the IGI can then be used to trace Kaighins from as early as 1586.

 

http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/scrap2/ch03_2.htm

" In connexion with premonitions of death I once heard a rather curious one at Glen X. It came to the wife of a policeman whose little son was ill, though not despaired of by the doctor. The woman awoke her husband about midnight, saying that she heard a great flock of birds going over the house and singing beautifully. He listened, and after a moment or two heard what seemed to be the faint song of a blackbird, but he could not be sure of it. After it had passed over she said, ' That's a death in the house within twentvfour hours-it must be our W.,' and the boy grew worse rapidly and died the following evening. The man told me this a few days afterwards, and his wife confirmed it later on. I knew them both well."

With these secret intimations of mortality should perhaps be classed the family- death-warnings which are plentiful in Ireland and not unknown in England and other countries. No Manx family, so far as I am aware, possesses a typical banshee, but some of the Kaighans of Michael and German, who say they were " the Horsemen of Manannan," were—perhaps still are—liable to be warned of impending misfortune to members of their clan by the sound of the hoofs of invisible galloping horses. No one who is not of the Kaighan blood, even if in the company of a Kaighan at the time, is able to hear it. Some light may be cast on this tradition by the derivation of the name Kaighan from McEaeharn or McEachan, i.e. Each-tighearn, " Horse - master." The McEacharns (a Kintyre surname) were said in Scottish tradition to be " Manannan's Horsemen."3 Kintyre was associated with horses nearly 2,000 years ago, when the name of its inhabitants, recorded by Ptolemy from a previous authority, was Epidii, " The Horse-people "—probably a Pictish word which was replaced by the Gaelic name Echdi for the same tribe.

 

 

 

The following is a list of possible derivatives of MacEachain:

Auchanson, Cackeon, Cagen, Cahanson, Caighan, Caighin, Chaginge, de Cakan, Eachain, Kaghan, Kaghen, Kaghin, Kaighan, Kaighein, Kaigher, Kaighin, Kaighing, Kaighyn, Keiggeen, Keighen, Keigin, Keign, M’Aychin, M’Cachin, M’Gauchane, M’Kouchane, M’Quuichin, MacAchane, MacAkoen, MacAychin, MacCaghen, MacCaighen, MacEachain, MacGachan, MacHaughan, Makachyn, Makachyn, MakGachane, McAchane, McAchin, Mcakeon, McAuchin, McCachan, McCachin, McCaghan, McCahan, McCahen, McCaighen, McCaughan, McCaughern, McCaughin, McCaughran, McEachain, McEachan, McGachand, McGachen, McGagen, McGahan, McGaichan, McGathan, McGauchane, McGaughan, McGaychin, McGeachan, McGeaghan, McKachan, McKaghan, McKahan, McKahon, McKaighan, McKaychin, McKechan, McKeechan, McKeighan, McKeuchane, McKukan, Mecachin

 

 

The following is a list of possible derivatives of MacEachain with its first documented use and source:

247                  Eachain          Ulster and Galloway            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1100               Auchanson     Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1100               McCaughin    Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1100               McGeaghan   Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1100               McCaughan   Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1100               McEachain     Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1143-1214     Mecachin       Carrik                        (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1150               McKahon       Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McKeechan    Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               MacGachan   Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McGagen       Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McKeuchane Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               MakGachane Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McGachand   Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McKechan      Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               MacAychin    Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McGaichan    Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McKeuchane Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McAchin         Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McGauchane Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McKaghan     Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               Mcakeon        Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McGaughan   Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McKachan      Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               Mccachan       Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McGeachan   Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McKaychin    Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McGathan      Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1150               McCaghan      Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1153-1165     MacEachain   Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1153-1165     McCaughan   Galloway                    (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1200               McGachen     IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1200               Cahanson       IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1200               McCaughan   IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1200               McCahan        IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1200               McKahan       IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1200               McKaighan    IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1354               de Cakan        IOM                            (W.W. Gill, 3rd Manx Scrapbook, 1963)

1400s             MacAkoen     IOM                            (W.W. Gill, 3rd Manx Scrapbook, 1963)

1422               McCaighen     IOM                            (Mark Anthony Mills, “The Ancient Ordinances and Statutes of the Isle of Man”, 1821)

1417                Mac Haughan            IOM                            (A. W. Moore, Manx Note Book Vol 2, 1886)

1418                McGaychin    IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1418                Cackeon         IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1422               Mac Caighen                                      (A. W. Moore, Manx Note Book Vol 2, 1886)

1505               Makachyn                                         (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1505               Macachane                                       (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1506               M’Cachin        Ardmuchy                (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1506               McCachin       Colonsay                   (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1508               Makachyn      IOM                           (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1511                MacCaghen    IOM                            (A. W. Moore, Manx Note Book Vol 2, 1886)

1513                MacCaghen    IOM                            (W.W. Gill, 3rd Manx Scrapbook, 1963)

1528               M’Quuichin    Dalquhat                   (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1532               McAuchin                                         (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1540               M’Gauchane  Edinburgh                 (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1543               M’Aychin       Huntlie                                   (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1605               M’Kouchane  Kintyre                                   (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1586               Kaighin                       IOM                            Kirk Michael parish records.

1611                Kaighin                       IOM                            (A. W. Moore, Manx Note Book Vol 2, 1886)

1611                Kaighan          IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1614                McAchane      Islay                          (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)        

1630               McKeighan    IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1630               Cagen             IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1635               Chaginge        IOM                            (W.W. Gill, 3rd Manx Scrapbook, 1963)

1643               Caighan          IOM                            (A. W. Moore, Manx Note Book Vol 2, 1886)

1643-1745     McCaghan      IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1643-1745     McCaughern  IOM                            (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)
1650               McCahen        Ireland                                   (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1667                Kaighan          IOM                            (A. W. Moore, Manx Note Book Vol 2, 1886)

1677                Kaighin                       IOM, German                       Kirk German parish records

1692               McKukan       Nether Lorn             (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1696               Kaighin                       IOM                            (W.W. Gill, 3rd Manx Scrapbook, 1963)

1700               McCaughran  Ireland                                   (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1700               McGahan       Ireland                                   (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1700               Kaighan          Ireland                                   (John Alexander McCaughan, 1981)

1702               Kaighing         IOM, German                       Kirk German parish records

1721                McEachan      Erchles                                   (George F. Black, “The surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History”, 1946)

1736                Keiggeen        IOM, Rushen                        Rushen parish records

1745                Caighin                       IOM                            (A. W. Moore, Manx Note Book Vol 2, 1886)

1756                Kaighyn          IOM, Malew              Malew parish records

1786                Kaghin                        IOM, Malew              Malew parish records

1793                Kaghen           IOM, Malew              Malew parish records

1806               Caighin                       IOM, Ramsey                       Ramsey parish records

1824               Kaighan          IOM, Douglas                        Douglas, St. George parish records

1826               Kaigher          IOM, German                       Kirk German parish records

1834               Keigin             IOM, Douglas                        Douglas St. Mathews parish records

1844               Keign              IOM, Arbory             Arbory parish records

1845               Kaghan           IOM, Ballaugh                       Ballaugh parish records

1857                Kaighein         IOM, Ramsey                       Ramsey parish records

1872                Keighen          IOM, Lezayre                       Lezayre parish records