2,330 Global Tynan Family Members

Tynan Family History

Recorded in the spellings of Tynan, and much more rarely Tinan, Tivnan, Tivenan, and Tynnan, this is an Irish surname. Originating from Counties Leix and Kilkenny and well recorded there in the original census of Ireland in 1659, the surname is anglicized form of the ancient Gaelic O'Teimhneain. The precise meaning of the surname is unclear, but it probably has some religious connotation, and appears to describe the son of the descendant of a follower of a holy man. It has to be said that trying to pin precise meanings on surnames which have undergone at least two language changes and fifteen hundred years of development, is fraught with improbabilities.