Eoghain Ó Cianáin, alias Owen Keynan, is listed as of Cappervarget, County Kildare in a Patent Roll of 1540, which states he was a harper and a servant of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare. Captain Francis O'Neill notes that he was also term a rymour, a poet, and apparently was blind. He had a son, Cornelius Ó Cianáin, known as Cornelius the Bard.
The Ó Cianáin family included people such as the historian/genealogist Adhamh Ó Cianáin (died 1373) and the travel writer, Tadhg Og Ó Cianáin (died c. 1614).