Rónán

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This article is about the Irish name. For other uses, see Ronan (disambiguation).


Rónán, anglicised as Ronan, is an Irish and Breton male given name and surname. As a surname, it is derived from the Gaelic Ó Rónáin 'descendant of Rónán' The name has several meanings such as "seal', 'a pledge', and 'a promising oath". The word for seal in Irish Gaelic is "rón".

Ronald, Raghnall, Reginald, Rex and Roy are some of the related names. Roy is derived from the Irish "Mac Giolla Ruaidh" and "Mac Fhearadhaigh", a surname anglicized as King, along with MacHarry, McHenry and Henry.[1][2]

The name is derived from a very old legend, which tells the story of a mother seal who is warned never to stray too close to the land. When the seal is swept ashore by a huge wave, she becomes trapped in a human form, known as a "Selkie" or "seal maiden". Although she lives as the wife of a fisherman and bears him children, known as "ronans" or "little seals", she never quite loses her "sea-longing". Eventually she finds the "seal-skin" which the fisherman has hidden and slips back into the ocean. However, she cannot forget her husband and children and can be seen swimming close to the shore, keeping a watchful and loving eye on them.[3]

There are twelve Irish saints bearing the name of Ronan commemorated in the Martyrology of Donegal:[4] These include:

  • Ronan of Locronan, a c. 6th century Irish pilgrim saint and hermit in western Brittany
  • Rónán Mac Bearaigh (died 665), founder of Druim Inesclainn (Drumshallon) (see Féchín of Fore).
  • Rónán of Ulster, brother of St. Carnech, and grandson of Loarn, died 11 January 535.
  • Rónán Fionn is honoured as patron of Lan Ronan (Kelminiog) in Iveagh. His feast is celebrated on 22 May, both in Ireland and Scotland.
  • Rónán of Iona is explicitly referred to by Bede in the controversy with his countryman St Finan of Lindisfarne, Bishop of Lindisfarne, 660. This controversy, on the calculation of the date of Easter, was ended at the Synod of Whitby, in 664, when Rónán's views were upheld. This is the saint referred to in the title of Sir Walter Scott's book, Saint Ronan's Well. Scott's St. Ronan was a Celtic monk, Bishop of Kilmaronen, who advocated the use of the Roman rather than Celtic manner. This St Rónán is also the patron saint of the Scottish town of Innerleithen.
  • Rónán of Lismore was a successor of St. Carthage, and several Munster churches were built in his honour. His feast is celebrated on 9 February 763.
  • Another saint of this name is best known by the ruined church of Kilronan (Irish Cill Rónáin), Co. Roscommon, where Turlogh O'Carolan and Bishop O'Rourke are buried.

People with the given name[edit]

People with the surname[edit]

Fictional characters[edit]

See also[edit]

  • Ronon Dex, a fictional character in the Stargate Atlantis television series

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://www.duchas.ie/en/surnames?SearchText=Hannraoi
  2. ^ https://www.duchas.ie/en/surnames?SearchText=King
  3. ^ "Irish baby names meanings - List of unique and unusual Irish names for your baby girl or boy". 8 May 2021.
  4. ^ Flood, William Henry Grattan (1912). "St. Ronan" . Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13.
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