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In its ancient Gaelic form, the Irish name Bolan was written Ó Beollain, formed from a Norse personal name. 1
The surname Bolan was first found in counties Clare and Sligo (Irish: Sligeach), in the province of Connacht in Northwestern Ireland, where they held a family seat.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bolan research. Another 144 words (10 lines of text) covering the year 1014 is included under the topic Early Bolan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
During the Middle Ages, surnames were spelt by scribes solely based on how it sounded, one's name could have been recorded many different ways during the life of its bearer. Numerous spelling variations were revealed in the search for the origin of the name Bolan family name. Variations found include Boland, Bolan, Boland, O'Boland, O'Bolan, Bolend, Bolen, Bolland, Bollan, Bollend, Bollen, Bowland, Bowlan, Bowlin, Boulland, Bollander, Bolander, Bollinder, Bolinder, Bollendar, Bolendar, Bollandar, Bowlander, Boulander, Bouland and many more.
Prominent amongst the family at this time was
In the United States, the name Bolan is the 15,575th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 2
Under the rule of England, land ownership in Ireland changed dramatically, and many native Irish families found themselves renting out land to farm from absentee owners. This was one of the prime reasons that immigration to North America began in the late 18th century: Irish farmers dreamed of owning their own parcel of land to work for themselves. At this point, the immigrants were at least of modest means for the passage across the Atlantic was often quite dear. In the 1840s the Great Potato Famine created an exodus of people of quite different means. These people were most often destitute: they either sold anything they had to gain a passage or they were sponsored by philanthropic societies. Many of these immigrants were sick from disease and starvation: as a result many did not survive the long transatlantic journey. Although those settlers that did survive were often despised and discriminated against by people already established in these nations, they were critical to rapid development of the powerful industrial nations of the United States and the country that would later become known as Canada. An examination of immigration and passenger lists shows many persons bearing the name of Bolan or one of its variants:
Some of the first settlers of this family name were: