All Irish surnames have a unique and often romantic meaning. The name Chain originally appeared in Gaelic as Mac Seain, which translates as son of John.
The surname Chain 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.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Chain research. Another 97 words (7 lines of text) covering the year 1750 is included under the topic Early Chain History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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.
More information is included under the topic Early Chain Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.