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Burgan History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Burgan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

Burgan is a name of ancient Norman origin. It arrived in England with the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Burgan family 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 Burgan family

The surname Burgan 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 Burgan family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Burgan 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 Burgan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Burgan Spelling Variations

It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has been standardized. For that reason, Anglo-Norman surnames like Burgan are characterized by many spelling variations. Scribes and monks in the Middle Ages spelled names they sounded, so it is common to find several variations that refer to a single person. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages such as Norman French and Latin, even literate people regularly changed the spelling of their names. The variations of the name Burgan include Burgon, Burgoin, Burgunie, Burgoyne, Burgoyn, Burgoigne, Burgane, Burgin and many more.

Early Notables of the Burgan 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), suppo...

Burgan Ranking

In the United States, the name Burgan is the 12,256^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 8

Burgan migration to the United States +

Faced with the chaos present in England at that time, many English families looked towards the open frontiers of the New World with its opportunities to escape oppression and starvation. People migrated to North America, as well as Australia and Ireland in droves, paying exorbitant rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, but those who did see the shores of North America were welcomed with great opportunity. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Burgan, or a variant listed above:

Burgan Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Anne Burgan, who landed in Virginia in 1703 9
Mary Burgan, who settled in America in 1710

Burgan Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Curtis Burgan, who settled in New York, NY in 1820
Robert Burgan, who landed in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1867 9
Daniel Burgan, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1875 9

Burgan Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Mrs. Sarah E. Burgan, (b. 1882), aged 21, Cornish settler travelling aboard the ship "St Paul" arriving at Ellis Island, New York on 16th May 1903 en route to Atlantic Mine, Michigan, USA 10
Mrs. Eliza Burgan, (b. 1858), aged 47, Cornish settler travelling aboard the ship "New York" arriving at Ellis Island, New York in 1905 en route to Leadville, Colorado 10

Burgan migration to Australia +

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

Burgan Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Thomas Burgan, aged 40, who arrived in South Australia in 1849 aboard the ship "Rajah" 11
Robert Burgan, aged 20, a miner, who arrived in South Australia in 1851 aboard the ship "Marion" 12

Contemporary Notables of the name Burgan (post 1700) +

Marwan Burgan, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Virginia, 2004 13

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)
Cornwall Online Parish Clerks. (Retrieved 3rd May 2018). Retrieved from http://www.opc-cornwall.org/Resc/pdfs/emigration_ellis_island_1892_on.pdf
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) RAJAH 1849. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1849Rajah.htm
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) MARION 1851 - HER HISTORY. Retrieved http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1851Marion.htm
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 29) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html