O’Shaughnessy

Variations – O’ Shaghnassy, O’Shaunessy
Racial Origin – Irish
Source –  A given name 

Like virtually all of the Irish family names, the first use o this name as a surname was to designate a clan.  The Gaelic form of the name is “O’Scachuasaigh” and what is the proper pronunciation of this? Well, it’s difficult for an English-speaking tounge to get it absolutely, but “O’shaw-nesch” with the accent of the “shaw” and the final syllable a rather vague one, somewhat between the sound of “she” and “say” , An “s” before an “e” of “f” in Gaelic takes the sound of “sh”.
The “O’Seachnasalgh” became a clan about the year 1100 A.D. becoming known by that name as the followers of a chieftain of the O’Connor line name “Seschnasach”.The O’Connors of Ireland held a position in the ancient history of that land not dissimilar to that of the clan Aplin in Scotland.  So many of its divisions became full-fledged clans themselves.  Thus, as many of the Scottish clans trace back to the Clan Alpin, so in Ireland there were many closely associated with the O’Connors, including the O’Dowds, the O’Colmans, the O’Cahills, the O’Rowans, the O’Seanions, and the Irish Forbes, not to be confounded with the Scottish clan of that name. The stronghold of the O’Shaughnessys was “Cineol Aodha,” now spelled Kinelee, in County Galway.