Noonan
An Irish surname, most commonly linked to a Gaelic clan name from Munster, especially Cork.
The #2,711 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 23,238 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually treated as an Anglicized form of an Irish Gaelic surname, commonly written O'Noonan in older sources. The exact Gaelic root is not fully secure from these excerpts, but the name is clearly Irish in origin and appears to have been associated with a hereditary family or clan rather than a trade or place name. Some later writers connected similar forms with Irish words related to "noon" or with nearby name-forms such as Nunan and Noonane, but the precise derivation remains somewhat uncertain.
History
19th- and early-20th-century Irish surname writers place the name chiefly in County Cork, where the O'Noonans were said to have lived historically. Matheson notes the surname among older Cork families and mentions former O'Noonans in Duhallow, Barrymore, and Kinalea. The name survives today in Ireland and especially in Irish diaspora communities, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century source places Noonan among the surnames especially associated with Cork, not just as a family name but as one tied to older local clan territory.
From the historical record
“6 tlAOToeATiAin, Nynane, Nee- nan, Neenin ; Nunan, Noonan. 6 11a|ia-6ai^, Nary, Neary, Nery. 0 tlACAn, Nawn.”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames