The historical Research Center
The irish surename Coone is, according to the noted authority on Irish family names Dr. Edward Mac Lysaght, one of a great number of variants of the surname Cunningham which name in Ireland is either of Scottish origin or is an anglicized form of a Gaelic surname. In this case, both Coone and Cunningham are anglicized forms of one of two ancient Gaelic surnames. In the first place, this name is the anglicized form of Mac Cuinneagain wich was the name of the Sligo sept and which is more usually anglicized to Cunningham. The Mac Cunneagains descend from the one named Cunneagan, a diminutive of the personal name Conn, a name meaning either “Wisdom or Hound”. The most famous bearer of this personal name is Conn Cetchathach ( Conn of the Hundred Battles), legendary ancestor of the kings of Ireland. The surname Coone may also be an anglicized form of denotes “son of” and the latter “descendant of”. Finally, Coone may be a variant of Cune or Mc Cune which name is an anglicized form of Mac Eoghain and which means “Son of Eoghain”. Eoghain is the Gaelic form of John. The main irish sept originated in Sligo ( Connaught) although they are found more abundantly in neighboring Lietrim where they have left their mark at the place named “Keonbrook”. The most notable descendant of the Leitrim sept is one General Sean MacEoin, otherwise known as “The blacksmith of Ballinalee”, who became famous during the irish war of independence and who was later twice made a member of parliament. Direct references to the surname include the following entry taken from the passenger list of the ship “Epimanondas” which sailed on the 2nd of April in the year 1851 bound for New York carrying one Margaret Coone, aged eighteen years. Patrick Coone, a laborer, sailed on the “Silas-Greenman”, also bound to New York in 1851
Blazon of Arms: Argent, a shakefork sable between
Three mullets of the second
Crest: A dexter hand proper, presenting a Lozenge or
Motto: Cura et Candore
Translation: By prudence and sincerity (ruud says: With care and candour)
Origin: Ireland