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

Doolan, 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 Doolan surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Doolan in America

Doolan is the 18098th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Doolan surname appeared 1,539 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Doolan.

We can also compare 2010 data for Doolan 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.

The history of the last name Doolan

The surname Doolan is of Irish origin and can be traced back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Gaelic personal name O'Dubhlain, which means "descendant of Dubhlan." Dubhlan is a diminutive form of the name Dubh, meaning "dark" or "black." The name was originally found in County Mayo, Ireland.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Doolan surname can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In 1587, the annals mention a Donnchadh O'Dubhlain, who was a member of the O'Doolan family from County Mayo.

The surname also appears in the Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns, a collection of official documents from the Tudor period. In 1602, a pardon was granted to Thomas O'Dolan of County Mayo.

In the 17th century, the surname was sometimes anglicized to Dolan or Dullahan. One notable individual from this time period was Edmond Dullahan, a Franciscan friar and historian who lived from 1630 to 1668.

During the 18th century, some members of the Doolan family emigrated to other parts of the world, including the United States and Australia. One early emigrant was John Doolan, who was born in Ireland in 1745 and later settled in Pennsylvania.

In the 19th century, the surname Doolan was still predominantly found in Ireland, particularly in County Mayo. However, there were also Doolans living in other parts of the world, such as James Doolan, a convict who was transported to Australia in 1832.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the surname Doolan. These include:

1. Patrick Doolan (1778-1857), an Irish revolutionary and member of the Society of United Irishmen.
2. Joseph Doolan (1857-1936), an Irish-American businessman and politician who served as the mayor of Sioux City, Iowa.
3. Michael Doolan (1860-1933), an Irish-born Australian politician who served in the Parliament of Western Australia.
4. Francis Doolan (1898-1976), an American baseball player who played for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Sox.
5. Sean Doolan (1958-present), an Irish actor known for his roles in films such as Braveheart and Titanic.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Doolan

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

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 Doolan was:

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 Doolan has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

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 Doolan was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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