Clan MacEacain
Clan MacEacain Genealogy
Website
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.
[More information]
