| {{ad}} |
|
|
|
Many Irish surnames can be traced back to their Gaelic forms. The name Herne originally appeared in Gaelic as Ó hEachthigheirn or Ó hEachthigheirna, made up of the words "each" meaning "steed," and "thighearna," meaning "lord." This was first Anglicized O'Hagherin, which was later changed to O'Aherne before the prefix was eventually dropped. 1
The surname Herne was first found in County Clare (Irish: An Clár) located on the west coast of Ireland in the province of Munster, where they held a family seat as a Dalcassian sept from before the year 1000. However, with the disruptions of the Strongbow Invasion of 1172, they migrated southward to counties Cork and Waterford. In Waterford the name is predominantly Hearn and Hearne.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Herne research. Another 116 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1420, 1566, 1754, 1769, 1797 and 1806 are included under the topic Early Herne History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Many variations of the name Herne were found in archives from the Middle Ages. The spelling and language in which the people's names were recorded was often up to the individual scribe. Variations of the name Herne found include O'Aherne, O'Ahern, Hearne, O'Heffron, Haveran, Hayveren and many more.
More information is included under the topic Early Herne Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of thousands of Irish people immigrated to North American shores. The early settlers were enticed by the promise of their own land, but they were moderately well off in Ireland when they decided to emigrate. Therefore, they were merely carrying out a long and carefully thought out decision. The 1840s saw the emergence of a very different trend: thousands of extremely desperate people crammed into passenger boats hoping to find any type of opportunity. The Irish of this decade had seen their homeland severely stricken by crop failures which resulted in widespread disease and starvation. At whatever time the Irish immigrants came to North America, they were instrumental in the rapid development of the emerging nations of the United States and what would become known as Canada. An exhaustive search of passenger and immigration lists has revealed many persons bearing the name Herne, or one of its variants: