Dunegan Last Name: Meaning and Heraldic Roots

Ask a genealogist about Dunegan and the first name they will mention is Donegan. The name is generally explained as “A descendant of the little, brown man”.

• Dunegan ranked 52,482 in the 2010 US Census, with 395 people answering to the name. It sits within the 100,000 most common last names in the country.
• Other spellings include Dunigan and Dongan.
• Dunegan writes “u” in place of the “o” found in Donegan, a typical scribal difference.
• Names that sound alike, such as Duncan, are easily confused in old records.

Arms associated with the name

Arms linked to Donegan and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. For the full story, order the Dunegan surname pack.