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

Ragan, 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 Ragan surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ragan in America

Ragan is the 3258th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ragan surname appeared 11,081 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Ragan.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ragan 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 Ragan

The surname Ragan originated in Ireland and is believed to be a variant of the Gaelic name Ó Rabhartaigh, which means "descendant of Rabhartach". The name Rabhartach is derived from the Old Irish word "rabhart", meaning "great prosperity" or "great wealth".

The Ragan family is thought to have originated in County Donegal, Ireland, where they held lands and were considered a prominent sept (clan) of the region. The name is first recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, in the 13th century.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, where a man named Ruaidhri O'Rabhartaigh is mentioned in the year 1305. This suggests that the family had established themselves in County Donegal by the early 14th century.

In the 16th century, during the Plantation of Ulster, many members of the Ragan family were dispossessed of their lands and scattered throughout Ireland and beyond. This led to the spread of the name to other parts of the country and eventually to other parts of the world.

Notable individuals with the surname Ragan throughout history include:

1. Philip Ragan (1715-1795), an Irish-born American soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War.
2. John H. Ragan (1818-1904), an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Arkansas.
3. William H. Ragan (1827-1909), an American judge and politician who served as the 16th Governor of Arkansas.
4. Henry S. Ragan (1853-1924), an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Ragan-Nassor Company, a wholesale grocery business in Kansas City, Missouri.
5. John S. Ragan (1868-1945), an American lawyer and politician who served as the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, from 1923 to 1927.

While the surname Ragan has its roots in Ireland, it has since spread to other parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, and Australia, due to immigration and migration patterns over the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ragan

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

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

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

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