This interesting surname is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic "O' Hannain", the prefix "O" meaning "descendant of", plus the personal name "Annan". The surname is chiefly associated with Counties Limerick, Galway and Roscommon. The first recording of the name dates back to the mid 13th Century (see below). Church records include: one Sarah Hannon, who married Richard Black on January 1st 1625, in London; Mary, daughter of John and Margaret Hannon, who was christened on August 30th 1778, in St. George in the East, Stepney, London; and Michael, son of John and Ellen Hannon, who was christened on October 19th 1795, in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland. Patrick Hannan (1842 - 1925), who was born in County Clare, discovered the Kalgoorlie goldfield in Western Australia which contains "the richest square mile of gold in the world". One Mary-Ann Hannon, aged 20 yrs., a famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Oxford" bound for New York on April 25th 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Marlisa O' Hannen, prior of Roscommon which was dated 1266 in the "Medieval Records of Ireland", during the reign of King Henry 111 of England, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.

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