This most interesting name may have derived from two possible origins. Firstly, it may be a dialectual variant of "Cogan", which is of Welsh locational origin from a place called "Cotgan" in Llandaff near Cardiff. This place derived its name from the Welsh word for "bowl" or "depression". The name may also be the Anglicized form of the Gaelic name "MacCogadhain", composed of the Gaelic prefix "mac", son of and the Gaelic personal name "Cuchogaidh", meaning "Hound of War". The name is also found in Ireland as Cogan, Coggan, Coggen, Cogin, Coggon, Coogan and Goggin(s). The first recording of the name is in the late 12th Century (see below). One William de Cogan appears in the Pipe Rolls of Glamorgan in 1185. One John de Cogan was recorded in the Somerset Hundred Rolls in 1273. The first appearance of the surname in "London Church Registers" is on July 3rd 1616, when one Jane Coggins was christened at St. Dunstan Stepney. Sara Coggin, aged 20 yrs., embarked for Virginia aboard the "Assurance" on July 24th 1616, from London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Milo de Cogan which was dated 1171, in the "Records of County Cork", during the reign of King Rory O' Conor, last native High King of Ireland, 1166 - 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.1175.

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