Donegan Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Donegan Family History

Donegan Family History

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

Surnames developed a wide number of variants over the centuries. 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 Donegan include Dunegan and Donnegan. This name in Irish is O'Donnagain of which there were four septs in Ireland.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

One of these was a powerful sept of Muscraidhe Tri Maighe, alias O'Donegan's country, where lies the Baronies of Orrery and Duhallow. In the thirteenth century their lands came into the possession of the Norman Barrys. The south-west Cork sept became a branch of O'Sullivan Beare while the sept of Ara, in north Tipperary, was dispersed by the O'Briens. Another sept was from Sligo and they were a branch of the Westmeath sept. Those of Ulster are on record from early times with the record of the death of Donnchadh O'Donnagain, King of Fernmhagh, now Monaghan, in the year 1029. Dunegan Castle is near Athlone in County Westmeath.The Donegan 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 Donegan descendants.