The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #27215 Message #2797052
Posted By: Thompson
27-Dec-09 - 02:17 AM
Thread Name: Irish surname pronunciation
Subject: RE: Irish surname pronounciation
A fada (like a French acute accent, but a longer stroke over the letter - though in printing, the acute is used) is used *when the name is expressed in Irish*:
Ó Miacháin
But not when it's expressed in English:
O'Meehan
when only the apostrophe is used. They're never used together.
There are two forms of 'Owen' in Irish: Eoin, which is equivalent to John, and Eoghan, which derives from a word for a yew tree.
The Eoghanachta are those southerners.