Higgins
Ó hUiginn · descendant of Uiginn
Higgins is Ó hUiginn in Irish, said oh HIG-in, and means descendant of Uiginn.
Uiginn means a Viking, from the Norse. A bardic family, and Bernardo O’Higgins, born in Chile to a Sligo father, is the national hero of two countries.
How it changes
- A man: Ó hUiginn
- His daughter: Ní Uiginn
- A woman who married into it: Bean Uí Uiginn
- The family together: Uí Uiginn
Where it comes from
Sligo and Mayo
Also spelt
Higgins, O’Higgins, Higgin
A name, not a pedigree
This is where the name came from, which is not the same as where you came from. Names were translated, anglicised, taken on by tenants and neighbours, and carried in by settlers who were no relation to the family that started them. To follow your own line, the 1901 and 1911 censuses are free and searchable, and give the county each person was born in.