Dunegan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Ireland

The Irish surnames in use today are underpinned by a multitude of rich histories. The name Dunegan originally appeared in Gaelic as Ó Donnagain. The first portion of the name is probably derived from "donn," which means "brown," while the second portion of the name is probably derived from and ancient Irish personal name. 1

Early Origins of the Dunegan family

The surname Dunegan was first found in County Cork (Irish: Corcaigh) the ancient Kingdom of Deis Muin (Desmond), located on the southwest coast of Ireland in the province of Munster, where they held a family seat at Muskerry, later moving to Limerick, Kildare and Dublin.

Early History of the Dunegan family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dunegan research. Another 114 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1172, 1300, 1395, 1412, 1413, 1634 and 1715 are included under the topic Early Dunegan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Dunegan Spelling Variations

Names during the Middle Ages were often recorded under several different spelling variations during the life of their bearers. Literacy was rare at that time and so how a person's name was recorded was decided by the individual scribe. Variations of the name Dunegan include Donegan, Donnegan, Doneghan, Donneghan, Donagan, Donnagan, Donnaghan, Dunnegan, O'Donegan, O'Dunnegan, O'Donnaghan, Dongan, Donegin, Donnegin, Donnagen, Donagen, Donnegen, Donegen, Donnigan, Donigan, Dunnican, Dunican, Dunnigan, McDunnigan, McDonegan, Dongane, Dongin, Dongen and many more.

Early Notables of the Dunegan family

Notable among the family name at this time was John Donegan (died 1413), a medieval Manx prelate. After holding the position of Archdeacon of Down, he held three successive bishoprics, Mann and the Isles (Sodor), then...
Another 36 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Dunegan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Dunegan migration to the United States +

Irish families began to immigrate to British North America and the United States in the 18th century, but the greatest influx of Irish immigrants came during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. The earlier settlers came to North America after a great deal of consideration and by paying relatively high fees for their passage. These settlers were primarily drawn by the promise of land. Those later settlers that came during the 1840's were trying to escape the conditions of poverty, starvation, disease, and death that had stricken Ireland. Due to the enormity of their numbers and the late date of their arrival, these immigrants primarily became hired laborers instead of homesteading settlers like their predecessors. An exhaustive search of immigration and passenger lists has revealed many Irish immigrants North America bearing the name Dunegan:

Dunegan Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John Dunegan, who landed in New York, NY in 1817 2

Contemporary Notables of the name Dunegan (post 1700) +

James William "Jim" Dunegan (1947-2014), American Major League Baseball player for the Chicago Cubs in 1970
Tyler Franklin Dunegan, American Republican politician, Chair of Mississippi County Republican Party, 2005 3

Citations +

Smith, Eldson Coles, New Dictionary of American Family Names New York: Harper & Row, 1956. Print
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, December 11) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html