Ó hAodhagáin

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Ó hAODHAGÁIN—I—O Hegane, O Higane, O Heagan, O Heegan, O Heaken, O Hoogan, O Huggain, O'Hegan, Hegan, Heagan, Hagan, Hogan, Egan, Eagan, Eakin, Hegans, Hagans, Higgans, Huggins, &c.; 'descendant of Aodhagán' (diminutive of Aodh); the name (1) of an Oriel family who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, were lords of Dartraighe, in Co. Monaghan, and of Ui Niallain, in Co. Armagh, and to which belonged Ivor O'Hegan, the tutor of St. Malachy and founder of the church of SS. Peter and Paul at Armagh; and (2) of a family of Ely-O'Carroll, in the present Offaly. This surname, owing to the different dialectical pronunciations of the syllable 'Aodh,' is variously anglicised in different parts of Ireland. In Ulster, it frequently became Ó Faodhagáin (which see), anglicised Fegan.

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