Cowan is a surname of both Scottish-Irish and English origins.

As a Scottish or Irish surname

edit

The name Cowan is first seen in the historical record in the UK and Ireland among Briton people in the Scottish and English borderlands.[citation needed] It derives from the old Gaelic MacEoghain or MacEoin (the "mac" prefix meaning "son of") or the Gaelic given name Eoghan. Alternate Anglicized spellings in Scotland include Cowen and Kewon.[1] Similar names with the same derivation in Ireland and Northern Ireland are Coen, Coan, and Coyne, as well as McKeown and McKeon (the Irish prefix "mc" having the same meaning as the Scottish Gaelic "mac").[2]

Notable people with the surname

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Name Origin Research. "Last name: Cowan". Surname Database. Name Origin Research.
  2. ^ "Cowan Family Surname - Northern Ireland". Emerald Ancestors. Retrieved 16 January 2019.