I previously analysed the records of the English royal courts in Ireland in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries with a focus on the status of minorities in those courts. The numerically largest group was the Gaels of Ireland who were minoritised by the English colonists in Ireland, but there were also the Ostpeople (Ostmen and Ostwomen), Cymry (Welsh), Scots, and a few others. The English clerks had a great difficulty with Gaelic names and uncovering some Gaels ‘hidden’ in the English records took a lot of work. Fagan was probably the most difficult to sort because there are so many theories out there on where this name came from. I think ‘Fakenham’ was my favourite discovery there.
Genealogy websites state that Fagan is a variant of Pagan, supposedly a 'Norman' name. Outside of loconyms (names based on a place) there are very few 'Norman' names. The French/English name Payn (vernacular version of Pagan) was rare among the English of Ireland. But Fagan is not related to Pagan. Woulfe thought that Fagan could be Fágán, Mac Pháidín, Ó Fágáin, Ó Faodhagáin, or Ó Fiacháin. Other surname scholars theorised that it could be Ó Faodhagáin or Ó Fágáin, which were possibly dialectal variations of Ó hAodhagáin which was a variation of Ó hÓgáin, or that Fagan could also be from Ó Fiacháin, Ó Féichín, or Mac Pháidín. MacLysaght conjectured that Fagan was 'Norman' probably because people with the surname Fagan were never disenfranchised by the English courts in medieval Ireland or labelled as unfree.
What all of these theories seem to have missed is the evidence from Britain. Could Fagan have been imported from England or Cymru (Wales)? Fagan appears in England in 1086 in the Domesday Book. A town held by the crown of England in Norfolk was called Faganham/Faganaham/Fagenham (now called Fakenham). The name Fagan first appears in a Welsh context in c.1129×39 in William de Malmesbury’s De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiæ as a bishop who ‘Pope Eleutherius’ sent to Wales in the second century. It is later spelled as ‘Ffagan’ in Cymry (Welsh), but there was not a large following and there is no recognised saint’s day for Fagan/Ffagan. Scholars of places names in North Wales connect the name Ffagnallt to Fakenham, but Ffagnallt means ‘shelter of Facca’ (the name which other scholars connect to Fakenham/ Faganham as ‘Facca’s Ham’) but the Welsh area does not appear before 1347 and it never occurs as ‘Faganallt’. The Welsh-name scholars explain that the genitive of Facca is Faccan and their tracing of the name ‘Ffagnallt’ shows the ‘Cymricisation’ of the name Facca (i.e. c-to-g: voiceless velar stop to a voiced velar stop).
The surname Fagan in Ireland was never classified/labelled as English, Cymric, or Gaelic. The Fagans that appear in the surviving court records were all regarded as free and allowed to use the courts, but this does not prove that they were of any ethnicity as all three of the named groups could use the English royal courts in Ireland. They were located in Tipperary, Clonmel, and Dublin.
Court Cases:
From Dublin: Richard Bray, Henry Bernard, William Durant, and Johan fitz William claim against Johan Fagan a half carucate (land a plough team of oxen could plough, c.120 medieval acres) in Drummunrenath in which Fagan does not have entry after the grant that William Fagan, cousin of the plaintiffs, whose heirs they are, made to Stephen Herbert for a term that has ended. The lands should revert back to them. Johan Fagan calls Richard fitz Richard Athelard to warranty his claim to the lands.
William and Johan Fagan was listed as homines et burgenses (people and burgesses) of Clonmel.
From Tipperary: Agnes and Mabel Fagan claim against Johan le Spenser 6 acres in Adfadd that is their inheritance in which Johan does not have entry except by the grant that Gilbert, father of Agnes and Mabel, whose heirs they are, made while non compos mentis (not of sound mind) to William Kent.
They also claim against Richard Wanberd 2 acres in Adfadd that is their inheritance that Gilbert, their father, made to Martin le Blund de Catherconan while non compos mentis.
Agnes Fagan and Mabel de Fagan against Richard Wanberd that he return to them 2 acres in Athfath that is their right and inheritance. Judgment that they recover their seisin of the lands.
Adam Fagan held 1 house and 10 acres in Folcheriston, Tipperary, and was a juror on the extent (legal inventory of a property) of the manor of Moycarkey.
Sorting out medieval names based on ethnicity without any label or self-identity is a hazardous affair. Some names are easy to distinguish, such as Murewoth McBren [Murchadh Mac Briain] while others such as Candelan, Fagan, and Myagh require exhaustive inquiry. The English colonies in high medieval Ireland provide an opportunity to sort out people that may not have conceived of themselves in our modern conceptions. We can codify the Murchadhs, Domhnalls, and Toirdhealbhachs as separate from the Richards, Williams, and Henrys, but how do we distinguish the Rikards from the Richards or the Willems from the Williams from the Guillaumes – and should we?