Show ContentsGarven History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Today's Irish surnames are underpinned by a multitude of rich histories. The name Garven originally appeared in Gaelic as Ó Gairbhin, derived from the word "garbh," which means "rough." 1

Early Origins of the Garven family

The surname Garven was first found in County Tyrone (Irish: Tír Eoghain), the ancient territory of the O'Neills, now in the Province of Ulster, central Northern Ireland, where they held a family seat from very ancient times.

Early History of the Garven family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Garven research. Another 135 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1000, 1527, 1558, 1560 and 1595 are included under the topic Early Garven History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Garven Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Garvin, Garvey, Garwin, Garvine, Garven, Garvan, Garvy, Garvie, Garwen and many more.

Early Notables of the Garven family

Notable amongst the family name at this time was John Garvey (1527-1595), an Irish Protestant bishop of Kilmore and Archbishop of Armagh. He was the eldest son of John O'Garvey of Morisk, co. Mayo and was born in the county of Kilkenny. "He was educated at Oxford, where he graduated in the reign of Edward VI; but through some negligence his name does not appear in the public...
Another 68 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Garven Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Garven migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Garven Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • William Garven, who landed in New York, NY in 1816 2

Contemporary Notables of the name Garven (post 1700) +

  • Pierre Prosper Garven (1872-1938), American Republican politician, Mayor of Bayonne, New Jersey, 1906-10, 1915-19; Defeated, 1910; Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from New Jersey, 1916 3


  1. MacLysaght, Edward, The Surnames of Ireland. Ireland: Irish Academic Press, sixth edition, 1985. Print. (ISBN 0-7165-2366-3)
  2. 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)
  3. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 18) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


Houseofnames.com on Facebook