placenames.ie
County

Cavan

An Cabhán

Cavan’s water-rich landscape and older Breifne associations connect the county with places beyond its present boundary.

Recorded locationCavan54.02162° N · 7.38454° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ieOpen in OpenStreetMap ↗

The name

A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.

Recorded forms

  • An Cabhán · Irish · main form · validated name
  • Cavan · English · main form

Place & story

A landscape that crosses borders

Cavan County Council describes the Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark as spanning Cavan and Fermanagh, with lakes, rivers, caves, drumlins and upland cliffs. The geological landscape does not stop at the county line. That is a useful starting point for understanding neighbouring places: a modern boundary can divide a continuous landform and leave closely connected communities in different administrative systems. The geopark is one part of the county’s geography, not a synonym for all Cavan. [3]

Breifne and the O’Reilly country

Lewis’s 1837 history distinguishes eastern Breifne, associated largely with Cavan, from western Breifne in Leitrim. It records several spellings, including Breffny and Brenny, and explains Cavan’s county name by reference to its chief town. Those regional forms can appear in historical writing without identifying a single civil parish. The story of the O’Reilly chiefs helps locate political authority, but neither the regional label nor the surname alone establishes an individual family’s descent. [2]

Small units within a county

The directory describes the formation of the county and the division of land into baronies, including the historical use of poles as units in land descriptions. Such terminology deserves to be preserved before it is translated into a modern address. For family research, identify townland, parish and source date, then distinguish a county-wide history from a record of a particular property. A lakeside location or Cavan postal address may connect a household with a market town without placing it inside that town. [2]

Geographic information

Place type
County
County
Cavan
Coordinates
54.02162, -7.38454
Mapped area
1,931.76 km²
Logainm ID
100003 ↗

People & family history

Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.

Explore this county

Up to 50 places per page, ordered by name.

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Cavan. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. County Cavan — A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis · 1837
  3. Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark · Cavan County Council
  4. Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.