Gahan (and its variant Gahame) is a
surname
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
with several different origins. One origin of the surname is from a reduced form of ''
McGahan'', which is in turn an
Anglicised
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
form of the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
''
Mac Eacháin
Mac Eacháin is an Irish language surname. It is the patronymic form of the personal name ''Eachán''. The personal name ''Eachán'' is diminutive of the personal name ''Eachaidh'', which is derived from ''each'', meaning ''horse''.
Anglicised fo ...
'', meaning "son of ''Eachán''". Another origin of the name, in
Leinster, is from a reduced form of the Irish language ''Ó Gaoithin'', meaning "descendant of ''Gaoithín''". The
personal name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...
''Gaoithín'' is a
diminutive
A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...
of ''gaoth'', meaning "wise", or "wind". In
Connacht, ''Ó Gaoithin'' is sometimes Anglicised as ''
Wynne'' or ''
Wyndham''. Occasionally, the surname ''Gahan'' may be an Anglicised form of the Irish language ''Mac Gaoithín'', meaning "son of ''Gaoithín''", although the more common Anglicised form of this Gaelic name is ''
McGeehan'' in
Ulster.
[ which cited for the surname "Gahan".]
People with this surname include:
*
Arthur Burton Gahan (1880–1960), American entomologist
*
Charles Joseph Gahan
Charles Joseph Gahan (20 January 1862 – 21 January 1939) was an Irish entomologist who specialized in beetles, particularly the Cerambycidae. He served as keeper at the department of entomology in the British Museum (Natural History) for thirt ...
(1862–1939), Irish entomologist
*
Dave Gahan (born 1962) (not his birth name), British singer
*
George Thomas Gahan (1912–1980), Australian politician and boxer
*
Gordon Gahan (1945–1984), American photographer
*
Graeme Gahan (1942–2018), Australian rules footballer
*
John Harvey Gahan (1888–1958), Canadian violinist
*
Matthew Gahan (born 1975), Australian baseball player
*
Thomas Gahan (1847–1905), American politician
*
Tracy Gahan (born 1980), Australian basketball player
*
William Gahan (1732–1804), Irish priest
and at least one having it as a given name:
*
Gahan Wilson (1930–2019), American horror–fantasy cartoonist and illustrator
References
{{given name, type=both
Anglicised Irish-language surnames