Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
This study is no longer registered with the Guild, but this profile page has been retained at the member's request. Please note that neither officers nor members of the Guild are able to answer any questions about this study.
The McGowan One-Name study is just getting started (August 2022) so please be patient. Like many one-name studies, it has grown out of my attempt to trace my own ancestry; specifically my Great-Great Grandfather Cornelius "Neil" McGowan of "Donegal" Ireland. With very little success of finding "Neil" I started mapping "McGowan" lines to create family groups in the hope of find my GGF. My goal is to share the information I collected and continue to collect on the "McGowan" family.
The registered variants of the name are McGowen.
The McGowan surname derives from the Irish Gaelic name Mac an Ghabhain, which means "son of the blacksmith." As such, the name was probably originally occupational. It has often appeared in its Anglicized form Smith.
The surname McGowan was first found in County Cavan, where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity. The Irish name MacGowan (not to be confused with the Scottish, which roots from MacGoun) is most often hidden under the ubiquitous name Smith. In Irish, the name is Mac an Ghabhain, which means 'son of the blacksmith'; thus its translation to Smith.