O'Shaughnessy

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O'Shaughnessy is family surname of Irish origin.

The name is found primarily in County Galway and County Limerick. The town of Gort, Ireland, was the caput of the family since at least the time of their ancestor, King Guaire Aidhne of the Ui Fiachrach Aidhne dynasty. Up until the late 1600s the O Shaughnessys held the sub district of Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne known as Cinéal nAedha na hEchtghe, which was also their clan name. Cinéal nAedha na hEchtghe / Kinelea consisted roughly of the civil parishes of Beagh, Kilmacduagh and Kiltartan and also parts of the civil parishes of Kibeacanty and Kilthomas. During the 1600s the O Shaughnessys became more important than the O Hynes clan even though the Ó hEidhin was still styled the lord of Uí Fhiachrach Aidhne. In the 1690s the O Shaughnessys had their lands confiscated for supporting the Jacobite cause against William of Orange. A legal battle raged on into the first half of the 1700s between the O Shaughnessys and the Prendergasts, the family who were granted the O Shaughnessy lands, with the O Shaughnessys eventually losing the case. The senior line of the O Shaughnessys may have died out in the 1780s.

The last "de facto" O'Shaughnessy Lord of Kinelea died at Gort after returning home from the Battle of Aughrim in July 1691. Thousands of bearers of the name still survive both in their homeland and further abroad. The name Shaughnessy is in particularly widespread use in the vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts and Peterborough, Ontario home of the Peterborough Liftlocks and Little Lake.

Notable people with this surname include:

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