Does anyone know where the surname Heenan could come from? I'm told my ancestor came from Bavaria.?

Heenan

Recorded in the spellings of O'Henaghan, O'Hennegan, O'Henehan, and without the prefix as in Heanaghan, Henehan, Henihan, Hennigan, Henaghan, Henaughan, Henekan, Heanan and Heenan, this is an ancient Irish surname. It was thought to be a nickname or metonymic, and to supposedly owe its derivation from the early Gaelic word "ean" meaning a bird, and this may be so. The derivation is from the ancient name O'hEeanchain, which loosely translates as "The descendant of the son of the Bird". Who the "Bird" was and how he became so named, is not known, but it was normal for Gaelic surnames to descend from the original chief of the clan. It may be that he was a hunter or hawker, perhaps one who trained birds of prey to hunt. What is certain is that the surname is very old, probably at least 13th century (see below). Early examples of the surname recordings include Thomas O'Henegan in Pettys "Survey of Ireland" for County Mayo in 1659, and Father Patrick Henecan, the parish priest of Ballysodare, and Dean of Achonry in 1743. The first known recording is believed to be that of Tayg O'Henehan, who was brought before the courts of County Kerry in the year 1295. His fate is not known.

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Heenan#ixzz1DwvKs...

However don't research your gennealogy using your surname in isolation, not all Heenan's are related and not all come from the country that the name originated.

Go back to what you know..your great grandfather...you have all the information on him, where he was born, lived, parents names etc from baptism records...was it he who migrated or your g great grandfather/grandparents......have you looked on naturalisation records, passenger ship lists, work back slowly or it will be like finding a needle in a haystack

Ther are some links on this website which could help youhttp://familytimeline.webs.com/apps/links/

Heenan Name Meaning and History

Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÉanáin ‘descendant of Éanán’. Woulfe, however, believes it to be a form of Ó hEidhneáin, which he derives from a diminutive of eidhean ‘ivy’.

sometimes a reduced version of Heneghan.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

via

http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Heenan-family-histor...

(free)

But - you have 8 gg grandfathers. Unless there was some serious incest going on, only one of the 8 was a Heenan, and none of your 8 gg grandmothers were Heenans to start with.

Most of the Heenans on

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/frameset_se...

(free) are in the UK.

So, either

1) Your parents didn't do their research, and you are a brit;

2) It was spelled differently in Bavaria;

3) It was Mueller or Schmidt or Zimmerman in Germany and they changed it in 1917;

4) None of the above.

You could definitely figure my ancestry out. My last name is also a very common English word.