Milligan
An Irish surname traditionally explained as meaning “descendant of the little tonsured one,” from Gaelic roots linked to a monk or shaven disciple.
The #1,597 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,773 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Milligan is generally taken from Irish Gaelic Ó Maolagáin, meaning “descendant of Maolagán.” The personal name Maolagán is a diminutive of maol, literally “bald” or “shaven,” and in older Gaelic usage could refer to a tonsured monk or religious devotee. In that sense, the name points to “the little bald/shaven one,” not to baldness in a modern everyday sense.
History
The surname is Irish in origin and appears in English records in several spellings, including Milligan, Millican, Milliken, and Millikin. 19th-century surname writers commonly treated the shorter and longer forms as variants or later spellings of the same Irish name. It is especially well represented in Scotland and the United States, where Irish and Ulster-Scottish migration helped spread it.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes compared Milligan with Milliken and Millikin as if they were a single family of spellings, and the forms do cluster closely in historical records.
From the historical record
“MILLICAN ) (Celt.) for the Irish 0'Maoil{e)a- MILLIGAN cdin, 0'Maoil{e)agdin, Grandson MILLIKEN or Descendant of Maolacan, MILLIKIN '' MAOLAGAN = the Little Bald or Shaven One, Monk, Disciple [Ir. maol, bald, &c. -|- the double dim. suff. -ac-dn, (for -oc-dn,) -ag-dn (for -6g-dn] MILLICENT (A.-Fr.-Lat.) the common…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)