O'Casey is a common variation of the Gaelic ''cathasaigh'', meaning ''vigilant'' or ''watchful'', with the added anglicized prefix '' O''' of the Gaelic ''Ó'', meaning ''grandson'' or ''descendant''. At least six different

sept A sept () is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used both in Scotland and in Ireland, where it may be translated as Irish , meaning "progeny" or "seed", and may indicate the descendants of a person ...

s used this name, primarily in the

Counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Caseys were the chiefly family of the Saithne tribe who in turn were from the

Dumnonii The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a Britons (historical), British List of ancient Celtic peoples and tribes, tribe who inhabited Dumnonia, the area now known as Cornwall and Devon (and some areas of present-day Dorset and Somerset) in the further pa ...

Laigin The Laigin, modern spelling Laighin (), were a Gaelic population group of early Ireland. They gave their name to the Kingdom of Leinster, which in the medieval era was known in Irish as ''Cóiced Laigen'', meaning "Fifth/province of the Leinste ...

who were the third wave of

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

to settle in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

during the first century BC. People with the surname O'Casey include: *

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. Early life O'Casey was ...

(1880–1964), Irish playwright * Eileen O'Casey (1900–1995), Irish actress, author, and wife of Sean O'Casey * Breon O'Casey (1928–2011), son of Seán and Eileen O'Casey * Lance O'Casey, cartoon character *

Ronan O'Casey Ronan O'Casey (18 August 1922 – 12 April 2012) was a Canadian actor and producer. Early life O'Casey was born in Montreal, Quebec, to poet father, Michael Casey, and actress mother, Margaret Sheehy, a Dubliner who had co-starred with the ...

(1922–2012), Canadian actor and producer * O'Casey (O'Cathasaigh), chief of Saithne, now Sonagh, in Westmeath; see Tuite Baronets

References

Surname DB

External links

* http://caseycloudconcepts.blogspot.com/2011/01/whats-in-name-casey.html?showComment=1350277679751#c2813048136101307288 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ocasey Surnames Irish families Surnames of Irish origin Anglicised Irish-language surnames Patronymic surnames

See also

References

External links