Duggan — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Dubhagáin
Meaning: 'descendant of Dubhagán (little dark one)'
Traditional stronghold: Cork, Galway
Pronunciation: DUG-un; Irish Ó Dubhagáin: oh DUV-uh-gawn
History of the Duggan name
Ó Dubhagáin comes from a diminutive of dubh, 'black'. Two main septs bore it: one among the ruling families of Fermoy in north Cork, the other attached to the Uí Maine of east Galway, for whom they served as hereditary poets and historians. The most celebrated of the Galway line, Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin, who died in 1372, composed the great topographical poem beginning Triallam timcheall na Fódla, a versified gazetteer of the tribes and territories of Ireland that remains a key source for Gaelic genealogy. The name is now most numerous in Cork, Waterford and Galway. Éamonn Duggan of Meath was among the five signatories of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921.
Variants: Dugan · Doogan · O'Duggan
Famous bearers of the name
- Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin — 14th-century chief poet of the Uí Maine whose topographical poem maps the tribes of medieval Ireland.
- Éamonn Duggan — Meath solicitor and TD, one of the signatories of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
- Noel Duggan — Gweedore musician, a founding member of Clannad with his twin brother Pádraig.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · Kelly · O'Sullivan · McCarthy · Lynch · Connolly · Daly · Burke