O'Higgins last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of O'Higgins

An Irish surname derived from the name Ó hUiginn meaning "descendant of Uiginn".

O'Higgins, 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 O'Higgins surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of O'Higgins in America

O'Higgins is the 127494th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The O'Higgins surname appeared 134 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 O'Higgins.

We can also compare 2010 data for O'Higgins 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 127494 127948 -0.36%
Count 134 123 8.56%
Proportion per 100k 0.05 0.05 0.00%

The history of the last name O'Higgins

The surname OHIGGINS is of Irish origin and dates back to the 16th century. It is an anglicized version of the Gaelic surname Ó hUiginn, which means "descendant of Uiginn", a personal name derived from the Old Norse name Hvitingr.

The name OHIGGINS is believed to have originated in County Sligo, Ireland, where it was first recorded in the 16th century. The earliest known spelling of the name was O'Higgin or O'Higgen. The prefix "O" in Irish surnames indicates "descendant of" or "grandson of".

One of the earliest recorded references to the OHIGGINS surname can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history written in the early 17th century. The name is mentioned in relation to a prominent family from County Sligo.

In the 17th century, the OHIGGINS family was among the Irish Catholics who were dispossessed of their lands during the Cromwellian plantation of Ireland. Some members of the family subsequently emigrated to Spain, where the name became hispanicized as O'Higgins or Higgins.

Ambrose O'Higgins (1720-1801), a merchant and military officer, was born in County Sligo, Ireland, and later settled in Spain. He was the grandfather of Bernardo O'Higgins (1778-1842), a prominent military leader and one of the principal founders of Chilean independence.

Other notable individuals with the surname OHIGGINS include:

  1. Ambrose O'Higgins (1754-1835), a Spanish naval officer and the son of Ambrose O'Higgins mentioned above.
  2. Michael O'Higgins (1766-1853), an Irish soldier who served in the British Army and fought in the Napoleonic Wars.
  3. Kevin O'Higgins (1892-1927), an Irish politician and Vice-President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State.
  4. Paddy O'Higgins (1903-1991), an Irish hurler and Gaelic football player who played for Dublin in the 1920s and 1930s.
  5. Rory O'Higgins (1947-2011), an Irish actor best known for his roles in television series like Ballykissangel and The Tudors.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name O'Higgins

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname O'Higgins.

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 O'Higgins was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 76.87% 103
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 5.22% 7
Hispanic Origin 17.91% 24

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 O'Higgins has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 76.87% 85.37% -10.48%
Black 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.00% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races 5.22% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 17.91% 13.01% 31.69%

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 O'Higgins was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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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!

"O'Higgins last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 24, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/ohiggins-surname-popularity/.

"O'Higgins last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/ohiggins-surname-popularity/. Accessed 24 November, 2024

O'Higgins last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/ohiggins-surname-popularity/.

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