Egan
An Irish surname from a Gaelic personal name linked to the idea of strength or fire, and also associated with descendants of Eochán/Owen.
The #1,561 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,396 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Egan is an Anglicized Irish surname, commonly connected with Gaelic forms such as Ó hEágain or Mac Eogain in different traditions and records. The name is generally explained as deriving from a personal name associated with Eochán/Eoghan, a name often linked with ideas of youth, birth, or noble descent; some older writers also connected it with a Gaelic word meaning strength, force, or ardour. In historical Irish usage, it was the surname of a sept rather than a descriptive nickname in the modern sense.
History
The Egan sept is traditionally associated with County Galway, especially the area of Clan-Dearmuda in the barony of Leitrim, where they were noted as a territorial family. English-language records later fixed the spelling Egan, while related forms and anglicizations such as Owen and Eugene appear in older sources. In modern Ireland the name remains strongly associated with Irish Gaelic heritage and is found both in Ireland and in the diaspora.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older genealogical sources sometimes treat Egan and Hagan as related or overlapping forms, which is why both surnames can appear in discussions of the same Irish sept traditions.
From the historical record
“personal name softened from M\, yEthel, EGAN. ]. Tlie cineal JEoghain, were the ' genus' or progeny of Eoglian, a great Irish chief contemporary with St. Patrick. The name is anglicised to Owen and Eugene. O'Donovan in Irish Penny .Journ. p. 327. Gaelic, e)ffi?i, force, violence ; hence strong-handed, active.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom