O'QUINN: Quinn is one of the most numerous
Irish surnames, the number of people in Ireland so called at the present
day being estimated at seventeen thousand: in the list of commonest
surnames it occupies twentieth place in the country as a whole and first
place in Co. Tyrone, though widespread in many counties. Tyrone is the
place of origin of one of the five distinctive septs of this name. The
most notable were the Dalcassian sept of Thomond, whos territory lay
around Corofin, in the Barony of Inchiquin, Co. Clare; and that of
Antrim, where the Quinns have long been associated with the Glens of
Antrim. The O'Quinns of Co. Longford were also an important sept, being
of the same stock as the O'Farralls of Annaly. It will be noticed that
the place names Inchiquin, Ballyquin etc., are spelt with only one final
N. There are two in Irish--O'Quinn--which surname is formed from the
personal name Conn.
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