McCloskey
Surname list / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
McCloskey (Irish: Mac Bhloscaidh)[1] is an Irish surname.
The MacCloskeys were the foremost sept of the O'Cahans, Lords of Keenaght, one of the leading clans of Cenél nEógain before the 16th century Scottish plantation.[2] The progenitor of the clan was Bloscadh Ó Catháin,[1] slayer of Muircheartach Ó Lochlainn, heir to the High Kingship of Ireland in 1196. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be in Gaelic, that of Mac bhLoscaidh, from the All Ireland Census in 1659, conducted during the reign of Cromwell.[3]