Bergan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland
Scotland

The history of the Bergan family name begins after the Norman Conquest of 1066. They lived in Devon, where they held a family seat after the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century. Originally from France, the name denoted a native of Burgundy as in 'de Burgoyne'. 1 2 3

Early Origins of the Bergan family

The surname Bergan was first found in the Pipe Rolls of 1160 which includes an entry for Robert Burguignon (no county provided.) Later in London, we found John le Burguinun in the Pipe Rolls of 1173 and on the Isle of Man, the Pipe Rolls there listed John le Burguinn in 1214. John Burgoynoun was recorded at Trentham, Staffordshire in 1330. 4

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 lists: John de Burgoyne, Somerset; Almaric Burgoyne, Bedfordshire; and John Burgoyn, Gloucestershire. 5 Richard Burgoyne, was Rector of Newton, Norfolk (no date given). 6

Farther to the north in Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 included an entry for Elizabet de Burgon. 5

"William Burgoyn was chamberlain of the city of Exeter in 1496, and William Burgoyn was sheriff of that city in 1537. In the 16th and 17th centuries a gentle family of Burgoin resided at Bideford; and in the reign of George I., Thomas Burgoyne was a Bideford gentleman. In fact, as far back as the time of Henry VIII., Jeofferie Burgin was a Bideford townsman. During the 16th and 17th centuries a gentle family of Burgoin flourished in the hamlet of Zeal near South Tawton. Robert Burgoine, Esq., was a Tiverton churchwarden in 1654. In the 13th century this name, in the forms of Burgoyn and Burgoyne, occasionally preceded by "De," occurred in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire, and Somerset. The Burgoyns in the east of England were at that distant period important families, and it is stated by most of the Devonshire antiquarians and historians that the Devonshire stock hailed originally from Bedfordshire. If this is true, the migration must have occurred at a very early date, since not only, as I have observed above, were high official positions in the city of Exeter held by the Burgoyns in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., a circumstance itself not indicative of recent immigration, but as far back as the reign of Edward I. the name was represented in the west of England in the counties of Somerset and Gloucester." 7

Early History of the Bergan family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bergan research. Another 181 words (13 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1210, 1273, 1319, 1379, 1500, 1592, 1638, 1645, 1648, 1657, 1680, 1682, 1683, 1703, 1722, 1739, 1740, 1741, 1764, 1785, 1789, 1792 and 1795 are included under the topic Early Bergan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bergan Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Burgon, Burgoin, Burgunie, Burgoyne, Burgoyn, Burgoigne, Burgane, Burgin and many more.

Early Notables of the Bergan family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Thomas Burgane, a prominent landholder in Scotland in the 16th century; and Sir John Burgoyne (c.1592-1657) 1st Baronet, an English politician, Member of Parliament for Warwickshire (1645-1648), supported the Parliamentarian cause in the English Civil War. John Burgoyne (1722-1792), the English dramatist and general, was the only son of, Captain John Burgoyne, a man of fashion, who died in the rules of the king's bench, and grandson of Sir John Burgoyne, bart., of Sutton Park, Bedfordshire. He was educated at Westminster School, where he made friends with Lord Strange, eldest son of the Earl...
Another 135 words (10 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Bergan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bergan Ranking

In the United States, the name Bergan is the 13,584^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 8

Bergan migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Bergan name or one of its variants:

Bergan Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John W Bergan, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1851 9
Francis Bergan, who arrived in New York, NY in 1852 9

Bergan migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Bergan Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Ellen Bergan, aged 19, a farm servant, who arrived in South Australia in 1855 aboard the ship "Admiral Boxer"
William Bergan (aged 28), a miner, who arrived in South Australia in 1856 aboard the ship "Gomelza"

Contemporary Notables of the name Bergan (post 1700) +

Bill Bergan (1942-2022), American two-time NCAA championship-winning head coach with the Iowa State Cyclones track and field
Thomas J. Bergan (1917-2011), American Democratic Party politician, Member of South Dakota State House of Representatives 30th District, 1955-56 10
Mary A. Bergan, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from California, 1996, 2000, 2004 10
Joseph Norman Bergan (1906-1968), American Democratic Party politician, Member of South Dakota State House of Representatives 29th District, 1931-34 10
Francoise Bergan, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from Colorado, 2012 10
Francis Bergan (1902-1998), American Democratic Party politician, Justice of New York Supreme Court 3rd District, 1936-58; Delegate to New York State Constitutional Convention 30th District, 1938 10
Kathleen Bergan Schmidt, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Illinois, 2004 11

Citations +

Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Arthur, William , An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. London: 1857. Print
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Rye, Walter, A History of Norfolk. London: Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, 1885. Print
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 4) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 19) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html