Beegan Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Beegan Family History

Beegan Family History

The Beegan ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives.

Many different spelling variations of the same name can be traced back to a single original root. Also, when a bearer of a name emigrated from Ireland it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books upon arrival at their new location. Some names have dozens of spelling variations. Some Surnames were also altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically, by their sound, and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another. This was especially so in Ireland where most Gaelic names were 'anglicized' at some stage.

Variants of the name Beegan include O'Behan, Behan, Beahan, Beaghan, Bean and Behane. In recent times members of this Gaelic sept settled in County Kerry but we also find them residing near the River Shannon, in the person of Hugh O'Beaghan, who was Bishop of Iniscathy in the year 1188. Another noteable person of the name was the Franciscan Donat or Daniel Beaghan, 1541, who was Bishop of Kildare at the beginning of the troubles. His diocese was near the homeland of the O'Behans which covered a considerable area of Counties Kildare, Offaly and Leix. Only a few of the present day of the family retain the 'O' prefix which properly goes with the name.The Beegan family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Beegan descendants.