Query

Luke,

On a recent post on this site, one of the volunteers said that Owen was another name for John....I never heard of that before, and I cannot recall which post mentioned it. The name Eugene is another name for Owen. John means "God is gracious" and Owen means "noble born" or "young warrior", so I don't see the connection. Perhaps Owen and John were synonymous in some areas of Ireland. Perhaps someone else will chime in here!

Regards,

Two maps....

Aghaboe, County Laois - Search

Ballinakill map - Search

On the Aghaboe map look to the right the road is the N77 look a bit south and you will see Ballinakill. They are near each other.

Depending on the year there are other things to watch out for.

The record in  St.Canices Ossory in Kilkenny City be careful as hints are only hints same as DNA matches, it may be just the same surname.

The Marriage in Aghaboe what year was it? please let us know. You may need to use another searching site.

I checked the church......there is a St Canice in Portlaoise.

St Canice's Cathedral - Bing Maps

The name Owen would be Eugene, but they may have used a second name or their Confirmation name. Which does happen. I have search by surname and year of birth to get the correct person.

Margot

The Irish given names Eoghan and Eóin were often anglicized as John or Owen (also sometimes as Eugene or Ian). Eoghan is an ancient Gaelic name which originally had nothing to do with any of those anglicized forms. Eóin was the rendering in Irish of the the Biblical name John (Johanan). Eoghan and Eóin later became somewhat interchangeable. The Norman-Irish name Seán was also anglicized as John.

Thank you everyone for your replies!

It is an interesting one as I have seen some people say a similar thing about a connection between John and Owen, although of course it is more likely to have been also spelt as Eugene, Eoghan or Eoin. It's annoying as it would add to the confusion if Owen had a brother called John and then they spelt Owen's name as John on some records. That could explain why I have not found any additional records for him. Although he was likely born around the 1820s and in a rural community. Maybe they didn't keep many records linked to him? I have found his marriage certificate but not much else. His children's baptisms but nothing more. No death or his own birth.

As for my other ancestor, her marriage in Aghaboe was in March 1829.