McGivern


McGivern
Is an anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Uidhrín, a patronymic from a personal name which is from a diminutive of odhar ‘dun’. This surname is also found in Galloway in Scotland, where it is of Irish origin. They belonged to Cenél Fearadhaigh, or 'race of Ferry', descend from Feradach mac Muiredach, a great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and by the 12th century controlled a large portion of County Tyrone and had penetrated deep into County Fermanagh but where reduced in the mid-14th century, by the Maguires.
Annals of Loch Cé
Cnoc Mhig Uidhrin, meaning "MacGivern's Hill"
This was used as the general name for the Bishop's four mensal townlands in Garvaghy Parish, Co. Down. All their names were, Knockgorm, Killaney, Castlevennon and Balloolymore. There were many clergy of the MacGivern name in Dromore Diocese in the 15th century and there could be a link between some of them and the townland.