Morgan (surname)

Morgan is a surname of Welsh origin.

Morgan
Language(s)Welsh, Gaelic
Origin
Region of originWales
Other names
Variant form(s)Morganach, Ó Muireagáin, Morgant

Origins and variants

Principally a Welsh name, Morgan is derived from the Old Welsh personal name Morcant, which is of an uncertain origin.[1] In Wales, Morgan was a powerful Welsh family established c. 1330 by Morgan ap Llewelyn (son of Llewelyn ap Ifor, Lord of St. Clere, and Angharad, daughter and heiress of Sir Morgan ap Maredudd, Lord of Tredegar). It is possible the name was derived from the Cornovii Tribe who lived in the North of Scotland and in the Severn Valley, near the Wrekin in Shropshire. The County of Glamorgan is named after the Morgan Princes of South Wales. The term for water sprites in Welsh is morgans.[2]

In Ireland, Morgan is an anglicised form of Irish Gaelic Ó Muireagáin meaning 'descendant of Muireagán', a clan who were lords of Teffia in County Westmeath and County Longford.[3]

Clan Morgan is the designation for the Mackays of the Reay Country and the surname is also found in Aberdeenshire. The Pictish form is Morgunn.[4]

Distribution

At the time of the British Census of 1881,[5] the frequency of the surname "Morgan" was highest in Brecknockshire (over 16 times the national average), followed by Monmouthshire, Glamorgan, Carmarthenshire, Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire, Cardiganshire, Pembrokeshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire.

List people with the surname

Fictional characters

See also

References
  1. "Surname Database: Morgan Last Name Origin". The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  2. Tongue, Ruth L. (1970). Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English Counties. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, p. 27.
  3. Woulfe, Patrick (1923). "Ó Muireagáin - Irish Names and Surnames". www.libraryireland.com. Retrieved 2023-05-31.
  4. Black, George F. (1946). The Surnames of Scotland (1993 ed.). Edinburgh: New York Public Library/Birlinn. p. 61. ISBN 1-874744-07-6.
  5. "Morgan Surname Meaning and Distribution". forebears.co.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2014
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