O'Donavan Surname

1,189,614th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 199 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Ireland
Highest density in:
Ireland

O'Donavan Surname Definition:

(Celtic) the Irish O’Don(n)dhubhain = Descendant of Don(n)dubhan [v.

O’-, and Donovan]

O'Donavan Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland1801:26,1612,438
England161:3,482,379114,324
Australia31:8,998,567200,784
New Zealand11:4,528,32355,372
United States11:362,458,9331,988,048
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Ireland31:1,476,62229,385
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England101:2,437,53768,340
Scotland21:1,871,60827,884
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States321:1,569,33483,036

O'Donavan Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

(Celtic) the Irish O’Don(n)dhubhain = Descendant of Don(n)dubhan [v.

O’-, and Donovan]

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

Some account of this family is given under Donovan. The following additional particulars are from D'Alton: —

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

O'DONOVAN: The descendants of Donovan, which is derived from Dondubhan, the brown—haired chief This name was given to a celebrated Irish chieftain of the tenth century, who was killed by the famous Brian Boru.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

O'Donavan Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name O'Donavan Come From? nationality or country of origin

The surname O'Donavan is most common in Ireland. It may also occur as a variant:. Click here to see other potential spellings of this last name.

How Common Is The Last Name O'Donavan? popularity and diffusion

It is the 1,189,614th most widely held last name worldwide, held by approximately 1 in 36,620,834 people. This last name is mostly found in Europe, where 98 percent of O'Donavan live; 98 percent live in Northern Europe and 98 percent live in British Isles.

O'Donavan is most commonly held in Ireland, where it is held by 180 people, or 1 in 26,161. In Ireland it is mostly found in: Munster, where 96 percent live, Leinster, where 2 percent live and Connaught, where 1 percent live. Without taking into account Ireland O'Donavan occurs in 4 countries. It is also found in England, where 8 percent live and Australia, where 2 percent live.

O'Donavan Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The frequency of O'Donavan has changed through the years. In Ireland the number of people bearing the O'Donavan surname grew 6,000 percent between 1901 and 2014; in England it grew 160 percent between 1881 and 2014 and in The United States it decreased 97 percent between 1880 and 2014.

O'Donavan Last Name Statistics demography

The religious devotion of those carrying the O'Donavan last name is chiefly Catholic (100%) in Ireland.

Phonetically Similar Names

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to O'Donavan
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis