Writers of some authority have stated that the Tuatha De Danann are a race in Irish mythology. One acceptable translation of Tuatha De Danann is 'people of Danu.' The Tuatha De hav also been called 'people of God' and 'people of the goddess.' The "Labor Gabala Erenn" is a respectable source for things Irish before about 400 BC. It puts the Tuathe De Danann as the fifth of a series of people to settle within the boundaries of the Emerald Isle, the isle beyond the western isle.
It seems that these people of Danu were relatively few in number and high in culture. They found the island to be inhabited by a more numerous people who have been called the Fir Bolg.
Some recent historians have called the Tuath De Danann gods because they have been related to god-like heroes and hero-like gods such as: Badb, Ogma, Lugh, Nuada, Manannan mac Lir, Aegus, Morrigan, the Dagda, Luchta, Creidhen, Goibniu, etc. I think that they were people much like you and yours and me and mine.
The people who were on the Island just before the Tuatha De and those who came just after, saw them as people of special ability and knowledge. Later they came to be associated with Faeries, leprechauns, she, 'people under the hill,' and 'the good neighbors.'
"Tuatha De Danann" was probably used to refer to more than one of the peoples who 'came before.'
I suspect my surname, Sheehan, came to us from others. I think that 'shee' may have been what some called a few of those who came earlier and had retreated quietly to the hills and barrows. I think that '..han' was the plural and that others came to call us Sheehan and that among those others we came to call ourselves Sheehan
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