That's the real family name. how in the hell did they ever get McGovern out of it? well, apparently the name itself means the Son of Little Summer. Anybody know what Little Summer means? Anyway, the name was anglicized to McGovern, MacGovern, Magauran, and believe it or not in some cases Somers.

Well, maybe I'll take a stab at answering my own question. Samhain is one of the major Celtic fetivals, it comes from Druidic times before Christianity. Samhain is celebrated on October 31st, November 1st. It is the end of one Celtic year and beginning of the next. When Christianity came to Ireland they were able to do away with all of the Druidic feasts except Samhain, the Irish wouldn't let it go. This festival also honored the dead, and on this night the dead, good and bad would come out of their cairns and roam the land. Food was place outside of cottages and left for the spirits. The Catholic Church created All Saints Day from the Irish Custom.

So, that portion of the name Samhain, comes from the festival, I believe one of the Irish gods was Samhain - God of the Spirit World(the dead). Now very interesting also is the Mag portion of Mag Shamhradhain. Mac is the patronym for son of. To the best of my knowledge Mag is not. In fact Mag in Celtic means 'plain' - a cleared area. Just outside the town of Ballymagauran (several miles west of Bawnboy Ireland) is the ancient Plain of Prostration - the very area where the ancient Irish paid homage to an idol called Cromm Cruach! This idol was torn down by St. Patrick, or by his orders anyway. The McGovern's were from a Druidic background, the were the learned men, priests of the old days. So, there you have it! The name could actually mean 'The Plain of Samhain' thereby making the name not a patronym but based on a locality, and livliehood! Anyone have any input on this? This is of course pure conjecture on my part, but pretty well thought out I think.

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