Higgins - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó hUiginn
Meaning: “Viking, sea-rover”
Traditional stronghold: Mayo, Sligo
A great bardic family.
Pronunciation: HIG-inz; Irish Ó hUiginn: oh HIG-in
History of the Higgins name
Ó hUiginn is generally derived from uiging, a word cognate with 'viking', suggesting an ancestor known as a sea-rover, though some link it to a personal name. The family arose in the Sligo-Mayo region and became one of the most celebrated bardic dynasties in Ireland: for three centuries the Ó hUiginn poets, above all the sixteenth-century master Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn, composed for patrons across the northern half of the country. The name later spread through Connacht and the midlands.
Its most extraordinary export was Ambrose O'Higgins, born in humble circumstances at Ballynary, County Sligo, who rose through Spanish imperial service to become Viceroy of Peru; his son Bernardo liberated Chile.
Variants: O'Higgins · Higgin · Higgens
Famous bearers of the name
- Bernardo O'Higgins - Liberator and first head of state of independent Chile, son of a Sligo emigrant.
- Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn - Sixteenth-century blind poet, among the greatest of the bardic tradition.
- Michael D. Higgins - Poet and politician, President of Ireland since 2011.
- Alex Higgins - Belfast snooker genius, twice world champion.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Walsh · Burke · McGowan · Boland · Moran · Conway · Feeney · Costello