Hickey

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This article is about the surname. For the bruises left by kissing, sucking, or biting, see love-bite.

Hickey is a common surname of Irish origin.

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[edit] The Hickey name in Irish history

The surname Hickey is one of the most ancient Irish surnames (O hIcidhe or O'Caigh "descendent of the healer"), with the clan holding the position of court physicians to the powerful O'Brien royal family of Thomond.

Surnames were only introduced in Ireland around 1,000 C.E. This ancient Irish family claims to be descended from Heber, a son of Milesius, King of the Gauls who colonized Ireland many centuries before the Christian era.

In a genealogical article (The O'Hickeys by Lt Col J. Hickey M.C.) it is stated that the O'Hickeys are descended from Cormac Colchin, second son of Cathan Fionn, 14th King of Munster who was said to have converted to Christianity in C.E. 420, having been baptised personally by St. Patrick. His great grandson Aodh Caomh, 17th King of Cashel and Munster is recorded to have built the first Christian church in Ireland, in Killaloe, Co Clare.

[edit] The Hickey ancestral home

Their traditional home was in the north of County Clare, Ireland, where there is still an area called Ballyhickey ("Baile O hIcidhe" , or The Town of the O' Hickeys). They are also associated with the neigbouring townalnd of Drim, and other townlands around Quin, Co. Clare.

Before the invasion of the Anglo-Normans at the end of the 12th century, the home of the family was located near Killaloe in County Clare.

Documents held in the British Museum (Collectanea de Rebus Hibernies Vol 1 p641) record that "in the last year of the reign of Connor O'Brien - na Srona - (of the nose) King of Thomand an obstinate battle was fought ...against Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, the Lord Deputy of Ireland near the castle of Ballyhickey." (C.E. 1496). The Earl of Kildare first used artillery in 1485 and it is assumed he later obliterated Ballyhickey Castle as no trace of it is shown in the Down Survey map of the County of Clare from 1658.

In the General Confiscation of 1654, the entire O'Hickey lands were taken by the English Crown.

[edit] The Hickey clan as physicians

In ancient times the Hickeys were hereditary physicians to many of the prominent families, including the O'Briens, the Kings of Thomond, a territory that embraced the present counties of Clare and Limerick. The activities of such healers in Celtic Ireland (before the Norman invasion of 1169 CE) can be viewed as similar to that of a shaman or druid

As Lt Col Hickey states, from the 5th to the 10th centuries Gaelic culture was at its peak. Latin was commonly spoken so medical knowledge passed easily from abroad. In addition case records were maintained and passed from father to son which established clans of Heriditary Physicians such as the Hickeys.

By tradition, the O'Hickeys were noted for brain surgery, especially the art of trepanning with silver plates the skulls fractures and other head injuries sustained in battle.

Ireland was an especially miserable place to practice medicine. The soft moist climate encouraged all forms of bacteria while rarely being cold enough to kill them off. The constant damp cold sapped human resistance to disease and whole ruling families were often wiped out. Extreme famine was a regular occurance despite the fertility of the land. The 8th century brought famine and pestilence, the 9th brought another famine and a plague for cattle. In 1080 plague killed 75% of Ireland's population. The O'Hickey's medical tradition survived through these.

Doctors in the Hickey family were famous for their study of medicine and translated many Latin and Greek Medical texbooks over the centuries. In 1403 Nicholas O'Hickey (with Boulger O'Callahan) wrote a commentary on the Aphorism of Hippocrates, a fragment of which is still preserved in the British Museum, London.

In 1489 Donough O'Hickey translated, into Irish, the works of contemporary European surgeons, e.g. the work of Pietro d'Argeloto, the Chirurgia.

The British Museum also holds two further medical works of 1589 by Thomas O'Hickey of Clare and one by Donal O'Troy for the O'Hickeys.

The best of the work is set forth in the Book of the O'Hickeys, now in the National Library of Ireland.

[edit] The Hickey crest and motto

The generally accepted form of the Hickey family crest can be described as Lion passant guardant Or, on an Azure background, ensigned with an ermine fur of sable fleur de Lys with a sable bent. The less familiar motto is the Latin "Honour virtutis praemium", roughly translated as "Honour is the reward for virtue" An Ancestral coat-of-arms for HICKEY is a shield divided into eight triangles, all meeting at a point in the center of the shield. The triangles are colored alternately black and gold: upon each black triangle is a golden acorn and upon each golden triangle is a black oak leaf.

[edit] Hickeys in the arts and entertainment

[edit] Hickeys in sport

[edit] Hickeys in politics and law

[edit] Hickeys in science

[edit] Hickeys in history and current affairs

  • Colonel James Hickey (soldier), in charge of the US Special forces team which captured Saddam Hussein
  • James Cardinal Hickey Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in the USA
  • Marilyn Hickey, American televangelist
  • Mary Augusta Hickey, Kennedy family matriarch
  • Thomas Hickey (18th century)
  • Monsignor R.M. Hickey Major born in Jacquet River, New Brunswick, Canada. Msgr. Hickey was six years Army Chaplain in WW II. He won the Military Cross on D-Day at St. Aubin, France, and was invested by the late King George VI at Buckingham Palace on July 5, 1945. He is the author of three books, "Scarlet Dawn', "My Hobbies Three" and "D-Day Memories".
  • Brian C. Hickey, a captain in the FDNY, lost his life on September 11th, 2001 due to the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
  • Hickey's Bengal Gazette was the first printed newspaper to be published in the Indian sub-continent.
  • William Hickey, who died in 1727, left a bequest to build houses for the poor which still stand today in [Richmond], Surrey, UK. Details are in this document from the local council.

[edit] The Hickey name in fiction

  • Earl Hickey is the protagonist played by Jason Lee on the NBC show My Name Is Earl.
  • Hickey - Theodore Hickman - is the name of the main character in the Eugene O'Neill play The Iceman Cometh making him one of the most important characters in 20th century literature.
  • Hickey is the name of the chief union buster in the 1987 film Matewan, an award winning film of the 1921 coal miner strike in West Virginia, USA.
  • The Prodigious Hickey is a screenplay by Jan Jaffe Kahn. The movie aired on PBS.

[edit] Slang meanings of Hickey

In North American slang, Hickey has more than one meaning:

  • Love bite or other bruise
  • Hickey is also a placeholder name used in the northeastern United States, a shortened form of the placeholder name doo-hickey.
  • A hickey is also a spot or discoloration on a press sheet due to specks of dust on a plate.
  • To "look like a right Mary Hickey" was traditional Dublin, Ireland slang for somebody, male or female, who was dressed inappropriately. This term has fallen into disuse.
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