Brennan Irish Family Gifts & Heritage

Brennan is most often the English form of Ó Braonáin, “descendant of Braonán,” a diminutive of the personal name Braon. Several separate families took the name. The most powerful were chiefs of Uí Duach in north County Kilkenny, within the old kingdom of Ossory, where Brennan is still very common. Other Ó Braonáin families were seated at Crevagh in County Westmeath, in the barony of Longford in south-east Galway as kin of the O’Maddens of Síol Anmchadha, and in Dunkerron in County Kerry as followers of O’Sullivan Mór.

The name also stands for Mac Branáin, chiefs in east Roscommon, and Ó Branáin, a Cenél Eoghain family of Tyrone and neighboring Ulster counties. Notable bearers include Joseph Brennan, first secretary of the Department of Finance and first governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, and the Dublin-born writer Maeve Brennan, whose sketches of city life appeared in The New Yorker.

The Brennan range covers home and wardrobe alike: a woven blanket and a printed throw on the Irish National Tartan, an accent mug, a coaster set, a garden flag and wall pennant, ceramic and framed Christmas ornaments, a family crest T-shirt and a Celtic harp tee, plus a novelty license plate. Continue with our Brennan surname history.