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Search info created -- Saturday,
December 14, 2002
Keeffe
FAMILY HISTORY PUBLICATIONS
1890 BIRTHS DISTRIBUTION
SURNAME HISTORY
Keeffe
O'Keeffe, and Keeffe, are the anglicised versions of the Irish Ó Caoimh, from caomh, meaning "kind" or "gentle". The original Caomh from whom the family descend lived in the early eleventh century, and was a descendant of Art, King of Munster from 742 to 762. For all of their history they family have been strongly associated with Co. Cork. Originally the territory of the family lay along the banks of the Blackwater river, near modern Fermoy, and were active in the wars of the twelfth century between the O'Connors and the Eoghanacht dynasties of Munster. But the arrival of the Normans displaced them, like so many others, and they moved west into the barony of Duhallow, where their territory became known, and is still known, as Pobal O'Keeffe, where the senior branch of the family had their seat at Dromagh in Dromtarriff parish. The last chiefs of this branch were Domhnall O'Keeffe of Dromagh (d. c 1655), who was prominent in the Catholic Rebellion of the 1640s, and his son Captain Daniel O'Keeffe, who was killed fighting for King James at the battle of Aughrim in 1691. The family estates were confiscated and sold in 1703 to the Hollow Blades Company. Even today, Pobal O'Keeffe is still the area in which the name is most common, with surrounding areas of Co. Cork also including many of the name. It remains relatively rare outside that county. In 1890 more than two thirds of the births of the name are recorded in Co. Cork. .Like many of the dispossessed Irish nobility, the O'Keeffes were active in the service of the Catholic monarchs of Europe. In 1740 Constantine O'Keeffe (born c.1670) was admitted to the French aristocracy on the basis of his Irish pedigree, and his long service. The name "Cuif", found in the Champagne district of northern France are descendants of O'Keeffe soldiers. Daniel O'Keeffe (1740-1786) was a well-known artist in Dublin and London. His brother John O'Keeffe (1747-1833) was a prolific and talented comic dramatist and songwriter. "Danno" O'Keeffe (1907- ) was the first footballer to win seven All-Ireland medals, as goalkeeper for Kerry for more than 18 years. Padraig O'Keeffe (1889-1963) was a renowned traditional musician and traveling fiddle master.
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