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

Goggans, 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 Goggans surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Goggans in America

Goggans is the 18431st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Goggans surname appeared 1,502 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 Goggans.

We can also compare 2010 data for Goggans 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 Goggans

The surname Goggans is believed to have originated in England, specifically in the county of Cornwall. It is thought to have derived from the Cornish word "gogyon," which means "dwarf" or "small person." This suggests that the name may have been initially given as a nickname or descriptive term for someone of diminutive stature.

The earliest records of the name Goggans can be traced back to the 16th century, with mentions in parish registers and local historical documents. One notable reference is found in the records of the Cornish town of St. Austell, where a family by the name of Goggans resided in the late 1500s.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Goggans surname began to spread beyond Cornwall, with families bearing the name appearing in various parts of England. One notable individual from this era was John Goggans, a merchant who lived in Bristol in the late 1600s and was involved in the transatlantic trade.

As the British Empire expanded, the Goggans name traveled to other parts of the world. In the 19th century, several Goggans families immigrated to the United States and Canada, settling in areas such as New England and the Canadian Maritimes. One notable figure from this period was William Goggans, a farmer from Devon who emigrated to Nova Scotia in the 1830s and established a successful agricultural enterprise.

The 20th century saw the Goggans surname continue to spread globally. One notable individual was Robert Goggans, a British soldier who served in World War I and was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Another notable figure was Elizabeth Goggans, an American author and journalist who was born in New York in 1925. She wrote several acclaimed novels and worked as a foreign correspondent, covering events such as the Vietnam War and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

While the Goggans surname may have originated from a humble descriptive term, its bearers have gone on to achieve notable accomplishments in various fields throughout history, leaving their mark on the world.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Goggans

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

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

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

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