A relative high concentration of the name Shannon/Shennan is found in the region of Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland dating back at least as far as the genetic range for our Shannon lineage (>800 years). This seems to be an area where the name in some version of its modern form is most commonly found at the earliest date. Documentation exists of a land-owning family with at least one tower house (small castle) and mention in various early records from the 14th century to the 16th centuries. Members of this family seem to have been at least lower gentry class going into the early modern period, but records indicate declining fortunes for this family across the 16th and 17th centuries in that region.
This region conforms to the genetic and documented evidence for a geographical point of origin we have, as skimpy as it is.
There is actually a bit of a mystery in regard to the name Shennan as it appears in that region historically.
Map of Shennan mentions from Medieval to early modern period
Shannon is a quintessential Gaelic name. It is typically interpreted as an Anglicized version of various original Gaelic names in Ireland which are all of quite ancient origin. By its modern spelling, however, it probably does not pre-date the 16th century in Ireland. But records as far back as the 14th century in Scotland contain the name in something like its modern form indicating it was already well established there by that time. This is odd because there would have been little pressure to Anglicize Gaelic names that early.
I believe the origins of the name in Scotland are not from earlier Anglicized Gaelic names, as in Ireland, and are entirely independent of the name in Ireland. The root word for Shannon in Gaelic is ‘sean’ which means ‘old’. In Scotland I think the name began as a reference to families that had been established there long before the region became Gaelic speaking. Basically, it could refer to ‘old family’ or ‘previous lord’ or something to that affect. The family was probably of some kind of local prominence and managed to maintain some degree of social prestige and land ownership for many centuries in southwestern Scotland, particularly in Kirkcudbrightshire.
In Kirkcudbrightshire, the name is traditionally frequently rendered as ‘Shennan’ which apparently derived from ‘Ashennan’, ‘Ashennane’, ‘Aschennane’ and various other spellings. The ‘A’ is now interpreted as a dialectic version of the Irish ‘O’, although earlier interpretation have it as an abbreviation for the Brythonic ‘Ap’ or ‘Ab’. The region where the name is most commonly found was Brythonic (old Welsh) speaking well into the early Medieval period. It became Gaelic speaking probably because of the Germanic conquest of what became England cutting the area off from its original cultural contacts. Ireland became ultimately a more powerful cultural, political and religious force over that population for several centuries before the modern Scots dialect of English became more commonly spoken.
The Galloway region of Scotland stubbornly retained its independence with its own local lords and gentry for centuries, often defying the will of Scottish or English dynasties which claimed the region. This would have been the context that our surname emerged from. Whether there was only one family originally by this name, or if several such families emerged independently from one another awaits further genetic testing which the people still living there seem reluctant to do unfortunately.
Whatever social authority these families might have originally held, it was largely voided by the early modern period. Although, records indicate they remained land owning freemen with some amount of material means, at least enough to send their families expanding out into new ventures as opportunities arose elsewhere and the centuries wore on.
But this entire region was once part of what was known as the post-Roman kingdom of Rheged. According to early medieval tradition, Rheged was ruled by a royal line descended from one of the last Roman Authorities in the region, Coel Hen. Coel lived in about 400 AD and according to tradition established several dynastic lineages in northern England and southern Scotland from that time. As later kingdoms emerged and grew, these earlier dynastic clans became reduced in power and prestige. Most of their descendants ended up in Wales and southern Scotland.
This historic pattern conforms precisely to what we see in our modern genetic pattern. Our DNA indicates a family introduced into the region as part of the Roman occupation. Establishing an expanding family in about 400 AD (at a time when the region was in stark population decline), with modern descendants in southern Scotland and Wales.
The Shennan family of Kirkcudbright and Dumfries holds a secret to this historic past in their DNA.
Bad Genealogy Rant: Thomas Shannon (1730-1794) and descendants. 