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Origins Available: |
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The Irish name O'Crean has a long Gaelic heritage to its credit. The original Gaelic form of the name O'Crean is Ó Croidheagain, from the word "croidhe," which means "heart." 1
The surname O'Crean was first found in Donegal (Irish: Dún na nGall), northwest Ireland in the province of Ulster, sometimes referred to as County Tyrconnel, where they held a family seat from ancient times.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our O'Crean research. Another 65 words (5 lines of text) covering the year 1616 is included under the topic Early O'Crean History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
The Middle Ages saw a great number of spelling variations for surnames common to the Irish landscape. One reason for these variations is the fact that surnames were not rigidly fixed by this period. The following variations for the name O'Crean were encountered in the archives: Cregan, Crean, O'Crean, O'Cryan, Creaghan, Creegan, Creahan, Crehan, Creane and many more.
Prominent amongst the family at this time was
In the 19th century, thousands of Irish left their English-occupied homeland for North America. Like most new world settlers, the Irish initially settled on the eastern shores of the continent but began to move westward with the promise of owning land. The height of this Irish migration came during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. With apparently nothing to lose, Irish people left on ships bound for North America and Australia. Unfortunately a great many of these passengers lost their lives - the only thing many had left - to disease, starvation, and accidents during the long and dangerous journey. Those who did safely arrive in "the land of opportunities" were often used for the hard labor of building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. The Irish were critical to the quick development of the infrastructure of the United States and Canada. Passenger and immigration lists indicate that members of the O'Crean family came to North America quite early: Phillip Crean who settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1860; John Creahan settled in Philadelphia in 1868; Thomas Creane settled in Philadelphia in 1868.