 The form Tiranny was created by the Ordnance Survey and led to the incorrect conjecture by some such as John O'Donovan that the first element of the name derived from the Irish word "tír", meaning "country".Older phonetic forms of "Tuatha Threna" included Toaghrany, Toyghrayny, Toaghraine, Toaghranye, Towrany, Tuterany, Toghrany, Toorany, Turrany, and Torany, all of which are found in records from the early seventeenth century.The second element "Threna" is derived from the "Uí Threna" (), the name of a tribe that settled on the western boundaries of modern County Armagh, where the barony of Tiranny is located.