Show ContentsShaner History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

All Irish surnames have a unique and often romantic meaning. The name Shaner originally appeared in Gaelic as Mac Seain, which translates as son of John.

Early Origins of the Shaner family

The surname Shaner was first found in County Kerry (Irish:Ciarraí) part of the former County Desmond (14th-17th centuries), located in Southwestern Ireland, in Munster province, where they were granted lands by Strongbow when he invaded Ireland in 1172.

Early History of the Shaner family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Shaner research. Another 97 words (7 lines of text) covering the year 1750 is included under the topic Early Shaner History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Shaner Spelling Variations

The spelling of names in Ireland during the Middle Ages was rarely consistent. This inconsistency was due to the scribes and church officials' attempts to record orally defined names in writing. The common practice of recording names as they sounded resulted in spelling variations such as McShane, McShain, McShaen, MacShane, MacShain, MacShaen, MacCheyne, McCheyne, McSheyne, MacSheyne, McCheine, McChain, MacCheine, MacChain, McChein, McShaney, McShanie and many more.

Early Notables of the Shaner family

More information is included under the topic Early Shaner Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Shaner Ranking

In the United States, the name Shaner is the 5,111st most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 1

Migration of the Shaner family

In the late 18th century, Irish families began emigrating to North America in the search of a plot of land to call their own. This pattern of emigration grew steadily until the 1840s when the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s cause thousands of Irish to flee the death and disease that accompanied the disaster. Those that made it alive to the shores of the United States and British North America (later to become Canada) were, however, instrumental in the development of those two powerful nations. Many of these Irish immigrants proudly bore the name of Shaner: John and Joseph McShain settled in Philadelphia in 1860.


Contemporary Notables of the name Shaner (post 1700) +

  • Brigadier-General Ludwig Shaner Conelly (1883-1963), American Commanding Officer 73rd Infantry Brigade (1929-1942) 2


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. Generals of World War II. (Retrieved 2011, November 23) Ludwig Conelly. Retrieved from http://generals.dk/general/Conelly/Ludwig_Shaner/USA.html


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