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  Cregan Family Crest / Cregan Coat of ArmsThis Irish surname of CREGAN may either derive from the Gaelic O'Croidheagain or Mac Riagain. In Connacht where the spelling Creegan has been the most favoured, descent from the former is more likely, while the Munster and Leinster families (more often Cregan) probably descend from the latter family, this deduction being based on the original homelands of the respective ancestral families. The Gaelic O'Croidheagain means 'heart'. They were a Cenel Eogain sept, the clan name of the families of O'Neills. The Irish prefixes of Mac (son of) and O (grandson or descendant of) gave rise at an early date, to a set of fixed hereditary names in which the literal patronymic meaning was lost or obscured. These surnames originally signified membership of a clan, but with the passage of time, the clan system became less distinct, and surnames came to identify membership of what is called a 'sept' of people all living in the same locality, all bearing the same surname, but not necessarily descended from a common ancestor. Adoption of the name by people who did not otherwise have a surname and by their dependents was not uncommon. Later, nicknames were in some cases to supersede the original clan names. Surnames as we know them today were first assumed in Europe from the 11th to the 15th Century. They were not in use in England or in Scotland before the Norman Conquest, and were first found in the Domesday Book. The employment in the use of a second name was a custom that was first introduced from the Normans. They themselves had not long before adopted them. It became, in course of time, a mark of gentler blood, and it was deemed a disgrace for gentlemen to have but one single name, as the meaner sort had. It was not until the reign of Edward II (1307-1327) it became general practice amongst all people. Ireland was one of the earliest countries to evolve a system of hereditary surnames. They came into being fairly generally in the 11th century, and indeed a few were formed before the year 1000. |
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