This interesting surname is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name "Slaughadhan", a diminutive of "Sluaghadh" meaning expedition, raid. The surname is widespread in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Variations in the spelling of the surname include Slowan, Slowane, Sloyan, and Sloan. The earliest recorded namebearer in Scotland was William Slowane, who held a tenement near Dalkeith in 1504, and John Sloane was recorded as holding a sasine of land in the parish of Traquair (1565) in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland. Church Records list the christenings of Anne, daughter of George Sloane, on December 29th 1616 at St. Gregory by St. Paul, London, and Jean, daughter of George Sloane, on August 5th 1677 in Antrim, Co. Antrim. One Sarah Sloane, aged 27 yrs., a famine emigrant, sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Sir-C. Campbell" bound for New York on July 7th 1846. A Coat of Arms granted to a Sloane family is red, a sword in pale, silver point downwards gold pommel, and hilt, two silver boars heads couped at the neck, on an ermine chief a red lion passant between two black mascles. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Maelpatrick O' Slowey "sage of Ireland", which was dated 1015, in the "Annals of the Four Masters", during the reign of King Malachy 11, "The High King of Ireland", 1014 - 1022. 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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