Hagan

Etymology

Hagan is a surname with more than one origin. In Irish usage, it represents forms such as O'Hagan and related spellings, ultimately from a Gaelic personal name recorded in older sources as something like hUa hAo...; the exact older spelling is obscured in the OCR, but Woulfe clearly groups Hagan with O'Hagan and variants such as Haggan, Heagan, and Hogan. In English records, Bardsley and Lower connect Hagan/Hagon with an ancient personal name Hagen or Haganus, and Lower notes that Hagen appears as an old Anglo-Saxon personal name. That Germanic name is also familiar from medieval legend, especially the Nibelungen cycle.

History

In England, the name appears early in medieval records, especially in the north and east, and Bardsley notes Domesday-era forms such as Hagana, Hagane, and Haganus. Lower treats Hagan as an ancient gentry name and links it to the legendary Hagen of the Nibelungen Lied and to an Anglo-Saxon personal name. In Ireland, Hagan is a well-known anglicized surname connected with O'Hagan and related forms, and later American bearers may descend from either the Irish or the English line. Because the surname has multiple independent origins, the same spelling does not point to a single family line.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

Bardsley notes that Domesday Book forms like Hagana and Hagane show how early medieval spelling could vary widely for the same surname.

Related surnames