Gahan is a

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

with several different origins. The most common origin of the name comes from "Ó Gaoithín" meaning "descendant of Gaoithín" a

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

family who were formerly chiefs of Síol Éalaigh and today are most commonly found in

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county located in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region of Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Carlow is the List of Irish counties by area, second smallest and t ...

and

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

. In

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

, ''Ó Gaoithin'' is sometimes Anglicised as '' Wynne'' or '' Wyndham''. Another origin of the surname is from a reduced form of '' McGahan'', which is in turn an

Anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

form of the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

'' Mac Eacháin'', meaning "son of ''Eachán''". Occasionally, the surname ''Gahan'' may be an Anglicised form of the Irish language ''Mac Gaoithín'', meaning "son of ''Gaoithín''", although the more common Anglicised form of this Gaelic name is '' McGeehan'' in

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

. which cited for the surname "Gahan". People with this surname include: * Arthur Burton Gahan (1880–1960), American entomologist * Charles Joseph Gahan (1862–1939), Irish entomologist * Dave Gahan (born 1962) (not his birth name), British singer * George Thomas Gahan (1912–1980), Australian politician and boxer * Gordon Gahan (1945–1984), American photographer * Graeme Gahan (1942–2018), Australian rules footballer * John Harvey Gahan (1888–1958), Canadian violinist * Matthew Gahan (born 1975), Australian baseball player * Thomas Gahan (1847–1905), American politician * Tracy Gahan (born 1980), Australian basketball player * William Gahan (1732–1804), Irish priest and at least one having it as a given name: * Gahan Wilson (1930–2019), American horror–fantasy cartoonist and illustrator

References

{{given name, type=both Anglicised Irish-language surnames