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

Durgan, 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 Durgan surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Durgan in America

Durgan is the 21648th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Durgan surname appeared 1,204 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 Durgan.

We can also compare 2010 data for Durgan 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 Durgan

The surname Durgan has its origins in the ancient Brittonic Celtic language, spoken in parts of what is now England and Wales. It is believed to have derived from the Old Welsh word "dur," meaning "water," and "gan," meaning "near" or "beside." This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near a stream, river, or other body of water.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Durgan can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Durganus," which was likely the Norman rendition of the original Welsh form.

During the Middle Ages, the name Durgan was primarily concentrated in the Welsh Marches, a region along the border between England and Wales. It is possible that the name originated among the ancient Britons who inhabited this area before the Anglo-Saxon invasions.

In the 13th century, a notable figure named William Durgan was recorded as a landowner in the county of Herefordshire, located in the Welsh Marches. This suggests that the name had gained some prominence in the region by this time.

Another early bearer of the name was John Durgan, who lived in the village of Pembridge, Herefordshire, in the late 14th century. Records indicate that he was a freeholder, owning land and property in the area.

In the 16th century, the surname Durgan appeared in various spellings, such as "Durgon," "Durgeon," and "Durgyn," reflecting the phonetic variations common in that era. One noteworthy individual was Thomas Durgan, a yeoman farmer born in Radnorshire, Wales, around 1530.

During the 17th century, the name Durgan spread beyond the Welsh Marches and into other parts of England and Wales. Notable bearers of the name from this period include Edward Durgan (1620-1693), a merchant and landowner in the city of Bristol, and Richard Durgan (1655-1721), a clergyman who served as the rector of the parish of Llanelly in Carmarthenshire, Wales.

As the centuries progressed, the Durgan family continued to leave its mark on various fields, with individuals such as the author and poet William Durgan (1785-1865), born in Shropshire, England, and the military officer John Durgan (1810-1877), who served in the British Army during the Crimean War.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Durgan

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

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

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!