Clan MacEacain
Clan MacEacain Genealogy
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The baronial and dynastic family of McCaughan derived its
lineage from the indigenous nobility (nobiles majores) of
the ancient Kingdom of Galloway, through Eachain, the
progenitor of the MacEachains. Eachain, a prince of the
Pictish race of Scotland and Dal-n-Araidhe in the Counties
of Antrim and Down, Ireland, was the son of Iriel Glumore,
the twenty-third King of Ulster and his wife Locetna, the
daughter of Eochy, King of the Picts in Alban, now
Scotland.
Dal-n-Araidhe, or as it is now commonly recorded
Dalaraidhe, was the last Pictish Kingdom in Ireland.
Geographically, Dalaraidhe extended northward from the base
line drawn through Carlingford Lough and the town of Newry
in County Down, with the Bann River to Lough Neagh and
west, and the Irish Sea and North Channel on the east, and
the Glenavel River on the north.
As the name implies, this part of Ireland was named after
Araidhe, King of the Picts (Rex Piotorum) who was slain
about 248 A.D. by the Heremonians or Scots as they advanced
north into Dalriada, the next kingdom north and from whence
they, or their representatives, passed over into the, now
Kingdom of Scotland.
The tribal name is still represented in the ancient
territory of Dalaraidhe by the place named Ivahagh, in
County Down, the Gaelic name of which is Uibb Eachach,
pronounced Ivahagh, but now contracted to Ivagh. There are
many more places in this area that contain the Gaelic
tribal word or name EACH which is record in English as
AUGH. However, each case where the word is used in a place
name must be judged on its own merits as to meaning, for it
would not be quite correct to imply that the word Each has
the same significance in all instances for it is governed
by its prefix or suffix. Eachain in itself is in reality a
tribial designation, which is derived from the middle
Gaelic name Eachuinn and anciently Eqo-donno-s, meaning the
Horse Lord, or more properly translated, the Lord or Chief
of the Horse Tribe; the horse, in Gaelic Each, being the
totem of their tribe. The custom of a tribal totem stems
from very early when most Celtic tribes took a noted
animal, fish or fowl as their totem (hereditary emblem)
which, in many instances, as in that of McCaughan, became
the surname of the leading family of the tribe.
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