Moynihan Moynihan Moynihan is a surname of Irish origin. Recorded in several spellings forms including Moynihan, Monahan, Monaghan, Monaham, Minihane, Minihan, and probably others, this is an Irish surname of great antiquity. It originates from the Irish language "Ó Muimhneacháin", which literally translates as "male descendant of the Munsterman". The surname is most popular in Counties Cork and Kerry, which form part of the province of Munster. The modern spellings are usually Moynihan and Monaghan, the spelling in the 16th century being generally recorded as Minighane, and regarded as the principal surname of West Cork. Michael and Mortimer Moynihan were famous
Counties of Ireland Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary, and Waterford; and the three Irish counties of Desmond, Ormond, and Thomond. Perrot's divisions in Ulster were for the main confirmed by a series of inquisitions between 1606 and 1610 that settled the demarcation of the counties of Connaught and Ulster. John Speed's "Description of the Kingdom of Ireland" in 1610 showed that there was still a vagueness over what counties constituted the provinces, however Meath was no longer reckoned a province. By 1616 when the Attorney General for Ireland Sir John Davies departed Ireland, almost all counties had been delimited. The only exception was the county