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

Gilsenan, 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 Gilsenan surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gilsenan in America

Gilsenan is the 71678th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gilsenan surname appeared 272 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 Gilsenan.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gilsenan 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 Gilsenan

The surname Gilsenan is of Irish origin and is derived from the Gaelic personal name Gilla Seanáin, which means "servant or devotee of St. Senan". The earliest recorded examples of the name can be traced back to the early medieval period in Ireland.

The name Gilsenan is closely associated with County Clare, Ireland, where St. Senan founded a monastery on Scattery Island in the 6th century. Many of the early bearers of the name were likely followers or devotees of St. Senan, who lived and worked in the vicinity of his monastery.

One of the earliest recorded references to the name is found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The Annals mention a Gilladubh Gilsenan who was a distinguished scribe and learned man in the late 12th century.

In the 16th century, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, a Gilsenan family held lands in the barony of Clanwilliam, County Tipperary. A notable member of this family was Edmond Gilsenan, who was appointed as the first Protestant Bishop of Raphoe in 1611.

Another prominent figure was Patrick Gilsenan, a distinguished Irish lawyer and judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland from 1677 to 1689. He played a significant role in the legal and political affairs of Ireland during the turbulent period of the Williamite Wars.

In the 18th century, Thomas Gilsenan, born in 1735, was a renowned Irish scholar and author. He published several works on Irish history and literature, including a translation of the ancient Irish epic, the Tain Bo Cuailnge.

The name Gilsenan has also been associated with various place names in Ireland, such as Gilsenanstown, a townland in County Tipperary, and Gilsenan's Lough, a lake in County Clare, named after the local Gilsenan family who owned lands in the area.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gilsenan

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

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Gilsenan, 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!