Bannigan last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Bannigan is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Bannigan.

Meaning of Bannigan

An Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Banáin, meaning 'descendant of Banán'.

Bannigan, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Bannigan surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bannigan in America

Bannigan is the 92358th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bannigan surname appeared 199 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Bannigan.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bannigan to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 92358 78326 16.44%
Count 199 227 -13.15%
Proportion per 100k 0.07 0.08 -13.33%

The history of the last name Bannigan

The surname BANNIGAN is an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Ó Banáin, which means "descendant of Banán". The name Banán is derived from the Irish word "bán", meaning "white" or "fair".

The BANNIGAN surname has its origins in County Leitrim, Ireland, where the Ó Banáin clan held lands and were considered lords during the Middle Ages. The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 13th century Irish annals.

In the 16th century, the Ó Banáin clan's lands were seized during the Plantation of Ulster, a planned process of colonization by English and Scottish settlers. During this time, many Irish families adopted anglicized versions of their names, including the Ó Banáin clan, who began using the surname BANNIGAN.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the BANNIGAN surname can be found in the Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns, a collection of official documents from the reign of Henry VIII. In 1544, a "Rory O Banan" is mentioned as receiving a pardon for his involvement in the Irish rebellion.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the BANNIGAN surname. In the 18th century, John Bannigan (1728-1795) was an Irish Catholic priest who worked to establish schools in his native County Leitrim. In the 19th century, Patrick Bannigan (1821-1892) was an Irish-American civil engineer who designed and constructed several railroads and bridges in the United States.

During the 20th century, Michael Bannigan (1908-1982) was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1972. Norah Bannigan (1924-2006) was a British actress known for her roles in television shows and films throughout the 1960s and 1970s. More recently, John Bannigan (1959-) is an Irish-American businessman and philanthropist who has donated to various educational and healthcare initiatives.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bannigan

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Bannigan.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Bannigan was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 91.46% 182
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 2.51% 5
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 4.02% 8
Hispanic Origin (S)% (S)

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Bannigan has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 91.46% 93.83% -2.56%
Black (S)% 0.00% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 2.51% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races 4.02% 3.08% 26.48%
Hispanic (S)% (S)% (S)%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Bannigan was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Bannigan, please contact us.

Reference this page

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"Bannigan last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on April 1, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/bannigan-surname-popularity/.

"Bannigan last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/bannigan-surname-popularity/. Accessed 1 April, 2025

Bannigan last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/bannigan-surname-popularity/.

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