Swegan Surname

1,565,797th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 131 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
United States

Swegan Surname User-submission:

Root: Sven (Nordic).

Swegan comes from Scotland, and is the Americanized version of MacSwegan. Even then, it is derived from family in Ireland, that spelled it McSwiggan.

The name is derived from the Norse invaders of the Emerald Island.

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Swegan Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States1301:2,788,146165,890
Nigeria11:177,142,758748,972
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States21:25,109,342694,541

Swegan Surname Meaning

User-submitted Reference

Root: Sven (Nordic).

Swegan comes from Scotland, and is the Americanized version of MacSwegan. Even then, it is derived from family in Ireland, that spelled it McSwiggan.

The name is derived from the Norse invaders of the Emerald Island. Family legend has it that the Irish and Vikings fought hard against each other during the day, but the Irish, being what they were, would end the day gathering the dead and wounded, taking care of them by getting the survivors drunk so as not to feel any pain. One day, one Irishman looked at his Viking foe and invited him to get drunk with them. Apparently, the Viking was tired and agreed. He enjoyed himself a bit, and the next day, showed up with friends after battle, along with some of their own booze, and partied well into the night with their foes. It became a standard thing: fight the enemy all day, get drunk at night. From this, friendships were born. Somewhere along the way, one Irishman had a spinster sister that needed a husband. He introduced him to one of his Viking foes, the couple wed, and the Vikings were defeated.

As the peoples started intermingling, many of the words from the Vikings found their way into the Irish language and culture. One of those words was Sven, which meant 'boy' or 'servant'. Somewhere along the way, some of the Swiggans (or their sons, the McSwiggans) ended up in Scotland (not unheard of in those days) and the spelling changed to MacSwegan.

In the early part of the 1800s, a MacSwegan immigrated to the US and started a family in the New York/New Jersey area but steadily moved westward. By the end of the century, they were already in Western Pennsylvania, poised on moving into eastern Ohio, where they have a strong foothold. Between the Civil War and the 1880s, though, there was a change. Many of the family dropped the 'Mac' from their name because they were confused with their Irish Counterparts (and the bigotry that entailed).

- swiggy1957

Swegan Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Swegan Come From? nationality or country of origin

Swegan is found most frequently in The United States. It may also be rendered in the variant forms:. For other possible spellings of this last name click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Swegan? popularity and diffusion

The surname is the 1,565,797th most widespread family name on earth, held by approximately 1 in 55,630,121 people. The last name is mostly found in The Americas, where 99 percent of Swegan are found; 99 percent are found in North America and 99 percent are found in Anglo-North America.

The surname is most common in The United States, where it is carried by 130 people, or 1 in 2,788,146. In The United States it is most common in: Ohio, where 55 percent reside, Pennsylvania, where 8 percent reside and Colorado, where 6 percent reside. Beside The United States Swegan occurs in one country. It is also common in Nigeria, where 1 percent reside.

Swegan Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The prevalency of Swegan has changed through the years. In The United States the number of people carrying the Swegan last name increased 6,500 percent between 1880 and 2014.

Swegan Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those bearing the Swegan surname are 20.45% more likely to be registered with the Democratic Party than the national average, with 73.68% registered with the party.

Swegan earn somewhat more than the average income. In United States they earn 14.15% more than the national average, earning $49,255 USD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Sweegan920/
Suegan8318/
Swegon838/
Swagan834/
Swigan831/
Schweghan803/
Sweegon7711/
Swagain776/
Suegang774/
Swaigan771/
Sveegan771/
Swiggan770/
Swegone770/
Sveigane7121/
Swaingan718/
Schwagan711/
Swahagan710/
Swigon67161/
Svagan6715/
Svigan673/
Swagon673/
Schwiegon672/
Xuegan671/
Zuegan671/

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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 Swegan
  • 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