Cannon

An Irish surname of Donegal and Mayo. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 71,085 people, the 466th most common surname in the country.

Cannon is the anglicised form of three distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.

Ó Canáin, descendant of Canán (an old Irish personal name, probably diminutive of cano , a wolf-cub). This family stood in Co. Galway.

Ó Canannáin, descendant of Canannán (diminutive of Canann)

Ó Canann, descendant of Cano (wolf-cub, whelp)

Where the name comes from

Ó Canannáin were lords of Tirconnell from the beginning of the 10th century to the middle of the 13th, when they were supplanted by the O'Donnells and sank into obscurity. A few scattered families of the name were still there at the end of the 16th century.

Ó Canann, descendant of Cano, a wolf-cub, is an old Tirconnell surname and probably a variant of it; and Ó Canáin belonged to a branch of the Ui Maine in Co. Galway, of the same stock as the O'Maddens. All three were written O Cannane, O Cannan and O Kannenan, and all three end up as Cannan, Cannon and Canning.

Nocturne, Fanad Head, Co. Donegal
Nocturne, Fanad Head, Co. Donegal

The Cannon counties, photographed

Donegal

Slieve League is about 600 metres from clifftop to sea, one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. Errigal is the highest mountain in the county at 751 metres, and it's quartzite, so it turns pink in low light. Glenveagh National Park covers about 16,000 hectares behind them.

Fanad Head Lighthouse at dawn with sunrise over Inishowen, Co. Donegal, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxFanad Head at Dawn, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal St. John's Point Lighthouse standing on the headland on a bright spring day with green grass, DonegalSt. John's Point Lighthouse, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Tory Island Lighthouse beam sweeping through hazy night air on both sides of the tower in a long exposure on the Donegal coastNocturne, Tory Island Lighthouse, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Intense double rainbow arching across the sky over green mountains near Glencolmcille in County DonegalRainbow, Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal Black and white view of Glengesh Pass with a winding road through rolling hills, Co. Donegal — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxGlengesh Pass, Co. Donegal Co. Donegal

Mayo

Achill is the largest island off the Irish coast and is joined to the mainland by a bridge. Clew Bay is full of drumlins that were drowned when the sea rose, which is where the story about an island for every day of the year comes from. Croagh Patrick stands over the south side of the bay. Mayo's population is still less than half what it was before the Famine.

Black and white view across Doo Lough towards Ben Gorm and mountains, Co. Mayo, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDoo Lough, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo Black and white view of Dun Briste sea stack from a sea cave, Co. Mayo, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún Briste from the Cave Co. Mayo Black and white lone tree standing in bogland with the Partry Mountains behind, County MayoLone Tree, Partry Mountains, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo Black and white long exposure of Dun Briste sea stack at Downpatrick Head, Co. Mayo, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDún Briste, Downpatrick Head, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo Moonrise over Croagh Patrick at night with trees and coastal lights, Co. Mayo, Ireland, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxCroagh Patrick and Moon, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo Incoming tide flowing around rocks at Silver Strand beach at the base of Mweelrea Mountain, County MayoSilver Strand, Co. Mayo Co. Mayo

All Donegal prints · All Mayo prints

Notable bearers

Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941), university teacher, physicist, and astronomer.

Dyan Cannon (born 1937), film actor, television actor, and screenwriter.

Walter Bradford Cannon (1871-1945), university teacher, non-fiction writer, and physiologist.

Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836-1926), politician, lawyer, and jurist.

John Cannon (1933-1999), engineer, Formula One driver, and racing driver.

About this page

The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.

More Irish surnames: Smith · Brown · Miller · Wilson · Anderson · Thomas · Taylor · Moore · Jackson · Martin · Lee · Thompson

How common the name was

In 1890, 49 births were registered under Cannon in Ireland, most of them in Donegal, Leitrim, and Mayo.

Ulster 21
Connacht 20
Leinster 7
Munster 1
Ireland 49

Leitrim is the one I haven't worked in.