Ó hÍceadha (in English: Hickey; O'Hickey) is a surname of Irish origin.
According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Hickeys were one of the chiefly families of the Dal gCais or Dalcassians who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC.
By tradition, the O'Hickeys were reportedly known for brain surgery, especially the art of trepanning with silver plates the skulls fractures and other head injuries sustained in battle.
[4] Doctors in the Hickey family were famous for their study of medicine and translated many Latin and Greek Medical textbooks over the centuries.
In 1403, Nicholas Ó hÍceadha (with Boulger O'Callahan) wrote a commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, a fragment of which is still preserved in the British Museum, London.