MacColgan Family Crest, Coat of Arms & MacColgan Name Origin

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Origin of the Name MacColgan

The ancient history of the name MacColgan was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. include Colgan and O'Colgan. O'Colgan was Lord of a territory in the barony of Tirkeeran in County Derry. This was the homeland of one of the two distinct septs of Colgan, who were erenaghs of Donaghmore in Inishowen. In the course of time these O'Colgans became McColgans, influenced by the fact that the more important sept that was located in Offaly was McColgan. The ancient manuscript 'The Four Masters' has reference to these as early as the year 1212. The Rev. John Colgan, 1658, was a Franciscan Friar and Professor of theology at Louvian and author of 'Acta Sanctorium Hiberniae'. McColgan was the usual form of the name found on tombstones in Counties Derry and Donegal up to the nineteenth century. In modern times the name is found chiefly in north Ulster Province and in County Offaly.