Feehan has for many centuries been associated with the Ormond country, particularly Tipperary and Kilkenny. The early anglicized spelling of Irish surnames as set down in legal records is very corrupt and may be misleading. Probably Muirihirt and Thomas O'Fechan, who appeared before a court held in Clonmel in 1295 were of this sept; as was Philip MacShoan O'Fethan who was convicted of robbery in Co. Tipperary in 1359, another Conghor Leith O'Fean, was fined at Clonmel in 1380. By 1601 the name had assumed a form nearer to the modern Feehan: in that year Teige MacNicholas O'Fehin was one of a number of men belonging to the Ormond territory who were granted "pardons". In modern times there were 57 householders of the name in Co. Tipperary in 1855 and birth registrations of the 1860s show that Feehan was then found mainly in the Munster-Kikenny area to which they traditionally belong. A generation later the name appears in all the provinces, less than half were recorded in the O'Feehan homeland and the majority were in Co. Louth. It seems probable that Feehan has sometimes been substituted for Fegan in Co. Louth.