McCrainor

This is an Irish surname, although one which has confusing antecedents. There are a wide variety of spellings including: McCrainor, McCreanor, McTraynor, and the more usual spellings without a prefix such as Creanor, Traynor, Trinor, Tronor, Trynor, Triner and Trinner, which can be English or Irish. In Ireland the surname usually derives from the pre 10th century Gaelic Mac Threinfhir, meaning " the son of the champion". This name derives from the words "trean", meaning strong, and "fhear", a man. Traditionally Irish family names are taken from the heads of tribes, or from some illustrious warrior, as in this case, and were usually prefixed either by O' meaning "descendant of", or "Mac", meaning "son of", and sometimes both prefixes are used, although not at the sametime! Early examples of recording include Ralph Traynor, the son of John and Elizabeth Traynor,who was christened at the church of St Peter and St Kevin, Dublin, on March 16th 1701, James McCreanor, who was a witness at Aghalee, on October 25th 1818, and James Traynor, a farmer, aged 26 years, who was one of the first of the Famine Emigrants to America, on May 15th 1846. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.