Conahy

This most interesting and unusual surname is most likely to be the Welsh equivalent of "Connor", which is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic "O'Conchobhair", composed of the Gaelic prefix "O", male descendant of, and a personal name deriving from "cu", hound, dog, and "cobhar", desiring. In Ireland many bearers of the "Connor" surname claim descent from a 10th Century king of Connacht who bore the name. In Wales, the surname is also found as Connah, Cona, Conahy, Cunah and Conws, and is also present in "Connah's Quay", a parish and urban district on the Dee estuary in the former county of Flint (now Clwyd). In present day registers Cunnah and Connah are found scattered in the North-East counties and the English counties best situated to receive the name. The personal name "Cwnws" appears four times between 1350 - 1451, and Angharad verch Howel ap Cwnws appears in early Welsh records. Benjamin Connah married Margaret Shone on December 6th 1629 at Hawarden, Flint, and Petrus Connah married Dorothea Mesham on August 10th 1667, also at Hawarden. Benjamin Cunnah married Mary Pidley on October 24th 1761 at Whitford, Flint, while the marriage of Jane Cunnah and John Lewin took place on December 9th 1814 at Dodleston, Cheshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Isabella Cona', which was dated January 22nd 1569, marriage to Matheus Fuller, at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.