This interesting name is of Irish origin and is, and always has been, an almost exclusively Munster surname. In 1890, of the sixy six birth registrations, forty were in County Cork and twenty-one in County Kerry. There are four Ballyhorgans in Kerry, all in the barony of Clanmaurice, and the 1901 census records one hundred and two families of this name in that county. Horgan is the Anglicization of "O' hArgain", and is said to have been originally "O' HAnradhain", which is the name os a notable family of Ross, County Cork. Synonyms of Horgan used in Munster are Hourihane (Cork), Hourigan (Limerick), Harriagn (Listowel), Horrigan (Kenmare and Mallow), and Organ (Cashel). Amongst the sample recordings in Ireland is the christening of Daniel Horgan on November 19th 1789 at Killarney Roman Catholic Church, Kerry. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of David O' Horegane, which was dated 1551, at Leix, during the reign of King Edward V1, known as "The Boy King", 1547 - 1553. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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