The MANNING NameThe Dictionary of Irish Family Names by Ida Grehan, 1997, Roberts Rinehart Pubs.,
Irish Variants: Mainnín
Anglicized Variants: Mannin; Manning
- A very old family, the MANNIONs are said to descend from pre-Gaelic Pictish rulers
- of the Galway and Roscommon area, where a great number of MANNIONs are still
- located. There is also a Mannin Bay near Galway Bay, on the Connemara coast. They
- were also a sept of the population group known as the Uí Maine, which included most
- of the important septs of Connacht. They were located in the barony of Tiaquin in
- County Galway and the headquarters of their chieftain was the castle of Clogher.
- Mainnín, King of Sodhan, is mentioned in an Irish chronicle of 1135. Up to the time
- of James I (1566-1625) they were still a clan of some importance and their chieftain's
- residence was at Menlough Castle, which was later to be taken over by the BLAKEs
- who were descendants of the Fourteen Tribes of Galway.
- In the seventeenth century the MANNIONs were besieged by the powerful O KELLYs,
- who confiscated much of their land.
- In 1617, Hugh O MANNIN had to surrender his estates to James I. Later he had them
- returned to him. However, a few decades later they were confiscated by the marauding
- MANNING is a common surname in England, but in Ireland it can also be an anglicization
- of Mainnín. The MANNINGs of Dublin and cork could be of English descent.
- In the Irish army of James II (1633-1701), John MANNING is recorded as being a
- "cornet" in O NEILL's Dragoon.
- Frederick MANNING (1812-83) of Dublin followed his father to VAN DIEMEN's Land
- (now Tasmania). He was well received by the Maoris and, in time, became a judge in their
- courts. He published a number of books on New Zealand and local folk culture.
- Henry Edward, Cardinal MANNING (1808-92), Archbishop of Westminster, was one
- of the English MANNINGs.
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