O'Galvin History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland

Etymology of O'Galvin

Irish surnames have had their original forms altered in many ways. Before being translated into English, O'Galvin appeared as Ó Gealbhain, derived from the words "geal," which means "bright," and "ban," which means "white." 1

Early Origins of the O'Galvin family

Early History of the O'Galvin family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our O'Galvin research. Another 46 words (3 lines of text) covering the years 1317, 1826, 1831, 1860, 1864, 1888, 1891 and 1904 are included under the topic Early O'Galvin History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

O'Galvin Spelling Variations

Scribes and church officials, lacking today's standardized spelling rules, recorded names by how they were pronounced. This imprecise guide often led to the misleading result of one person's name being recorded under several different spellings. Numerous spelling variations of the surname O'Galvin are preserved in documents of the family history. The various spellings of the name that were found include Galvin, Gallivan, O'Galvin and others.

Early Notables of the O'Galvin family

Dan Leno (1860-1904) stage name of George Wild Galvin, the famous English comedian. He was a leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor, best known for his music hall act and for his roles in the annual pantomimes that were popular at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane...
Another 48 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early O'Galvin Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the O'Galvin family

Ireland saw an enormous decrease in its population in the 19th century due to immigration and death. This pattern of immigration began slowly in the late 18th century and gradually grew throughout the early portion of the 19th century. However, a dramatic increase in the country's immigration numbers occurred when the Great Potato Famine struck in the 1840s. The early immigrants to North America were primarily destined to be farmers tending to their own plot of land, those that came later initially settled within pre-established urban centers. These urban immigrants provided the cheap labor that the fast developing United States and soon to be Canada required. Regardless of their new lifestyle in North America, the Irish immigrants to the United States and Canada made invaluable contributions to their newly adopted societies. An investigation of immigrant and passenger lists revealed many O'Galvins: James, Joseph, Patrick, Simon, Thomas Galvin who arrived in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1860; David Galvin settled in Maryland in 1776; J. Galvin settled in Baltimore Maryland in 1822.