Boylan
An Irish surname usually explained as a shortened form of a Gaelic name beginning with Boyle- or Bóth-; in England it can also reflect a place-name like Boyland.
The #5,533 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 49,163 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is most often treated as Irish in origin, with the old Gaelic form usually given as Ó Baoighealláin or a related Boylan/Boyland form, though 19th-century sources differ a bit in how they analyzed it. In English records, however, Boylan can also be a locative surname meaning "of Boyland," from a place-name recorded in medieval Norfolk. Because the evidence points in more than one direction, the surname may have separate Irish and English origins in different families.
History
Boylan is a well-attested surname in Ireland, especially in the north, and it appears in historical listings for counties such as Antrim, Down, and Londonderry. English surname dictionaries also record Boylan and Boyland as local surnames from a medieval Boyland in Norfolk. In modern use, the name is strongly associated with Ireland, but English-origin families with the same spelling also existed.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname writers grouped Boylan with nearby names like Boyle and Boyne, showing how similar-looking Irish names were often linked or confused in early scholarship.
From the historical record
“Philadelphia, *, i. Boyland, Boylan,— Local, 'of Boyland.' The place 'Boyland' is mentioned in the Hundred Rolls, CO. Notf., vol L pp. 473, 476. Richard de Boyland, co. Noif,, x> Bdw.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances