11,289 Global LONERGAN Family Members

LONERGAN Family History

This most interesting surname, of Old Gaelic origin, is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic "O'Longargain", of uncertain etymology. This Irish sept inhabited north-east Thomond, that is that part of Tipperary which lay on the east side of Lough Derg, in pre-Norman times. Later the Anglo-Norman Butlers forced them southwards to Cashel and Cahir, where they have remained in considerable numbers up to the present day. The surname itself, which first appears in records in the mid 12th Century (see below), is also found in the modern idiom as "Londrigan". The chief of the sept resided at Cahir. Their importance in Irish History is due to the fact that they provided a number of leading ecclesiastics from the 12th to the 15th Century, no less than six of these being archbishops or bishops, two of Killaloe and three of Cashel...