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

Fegan, 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 Fegan surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fegan in America

Fegan is the 19731st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fegan surname appeared 1,365 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 Fegan.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fegan 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 Fegan

The surname Fegan originates from Ireland, specifically the Irish counties of Westmeath and Longford. It is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic surname Ó Fiaghain, which means "descendant of Fiaghan." The name is believed to have originated in the late 12th or early 13th century.

The earliest recorded instance of the Fegan surname can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history written in the 17th century. It mentions a Tadhg Ó Fiaghain, who was a prominent member of the Uí Fiaghain clan in the 13th century.

In the 16th century, the surname is also mentioned in the Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns, a collection of records from the reign of the Tudor monarchs in Ireland. A John Fegan is listed as holding lands in County Westmeath in 1585.

During the Plantation of Ulster in the early 17th century, many Irish families, including the Fegans, were dispossessed of their lands and forced to migrate to other parts of Ireland or abroad. As a result, the Fegan surname can now be found in various parts of Ireland, as well as in regions with significant Irish diaspora populations, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Notable individuals with the surname Fegan include:

1. Sir Michael Fegan (1828-1888), an Irish-born Australian politician and merchant who served as the Lord Mayor of Brisbane from 1876 to 1878.
2. James Fegan (1808-1873), an Irish Catholic priest and philanthropist who founded the first Catholic reformatory school in England.
3. Robert Fegan (1817-1876), an Irish-born American politician and businessman who served as the 17th Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, from 1873 to 1875.
4. Mary Fegan (1884-1952), an Irish-born American labor activist and union leader who played a significant role in the Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in the early 20th century.
5. Patrick Fegan (1856-1932), an Irish-born Australian politician and lawyer who served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1910 to 1913.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fegan

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

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

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

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