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The anglicized surname Kehoe (sometimes spelled Keogh) arose in Ireland in the period (1600 - 1800) in which the English government of Ireland was actively trying to stamp out the Irish language. The "English" name Kehoe was a translation of the the Irish name Mac Eochadha, .... which means son of Eochaidh .... or Son of the Horseman, ..... Eoc being the Old Irish word for Horse. The Mac Eochadha clan was found principally in the counties of Wexford in the South East of Ireland and Galway in the West of Ireland. In Wexford, the Irish name was translated to Kehoe. In Galway it was translated to Keogh. In Ireland, the anglicized version, Kehoe or Keogh, is pronounced as one syllable Kyo as in Tokyo. In the US and England it tends to be pronounced phonetically as two syllables, ... Key Ho.