The Corrigan Name

Primary county: Fermanagh MonaghanMeath

History and Origins

Two distinct Ó Corragáin septs existed in medieval Ireland. The first was an Ulster family, settled in County Fermanagh and County Monaghan, associated with the ancient kingdom of Fir Manach (the Men of Monach) and the territorial politics of the Ulster borderlands. The second was a Leinster family, established in counties Meath and Westmeath, in the province's midlands. Both septs share the same personal name origin but had separate genealogical lines, a common feature of Gaelic Irish naming tradition.

The Ulster Corrigans

The Fermanagh and Monaghan Corrigans were part of the complex tribal world of Ulster, operating in territory between the great kingdoms of Fermanagh (ruled by the Maguires) and Monaghan (the MacMahons' territory). They appear in Ulster genealogical sources from the thirteenth century onward. The Famine of 1845–1852 struck these Ulster border counties severely, particularly in Fermanagh, and large numbers of Corrigan families emigrated during and after the Famine decade.

The Leinster Corrigans

The Meath and Westmeath Corrigans were settled in the Irish midlands, a region of continual contest between Gaelic Irish and Anglo-Norman power from the twelfth century onward. The Pale — the zone of effective English control — abutted Meath, and Meath families like the Corrigans experienced a complex process of anglicisation, intermarriage, and cultural accommodation with the Norman and Old English settlers. By the seventeenth century, the Corrigans of the midlands had become part of the complex Catholic Gaelic-Norman mix characteristic of the Pale's hinterland.

Famine and Emigration

Fermanagh, Monaghan, and Meath all experienced significant emigration during and after the Great Famine. Ulster emigrants typically moved to the northeast United States — New York, Philadelphia, and New England — while the Leinster Corrigans had connections in Dublin that sometimes provided a different emigration pathway. By the 1850s, Corrigan was an established name in Irish-American communities across the eastern seaboard.

The Diaspora

The Corrigan diaspora is spread across the United States, Britain, and Australia. American Corrigans are most densely concentrated in New York, Pennsylvania, and New England — the traditional settlement zones for Ulster and Leinster emigrants. The name also appears in Chicago and the Midwest, which drew Ulster emigrants through the railway construction era of the mid-nineteenth century.

The most celebrated Corrigan in American history is Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan (1839–1902), Archbishop of New York, one of the dominant figures of the American Catholic Church in the Gilded Age, whose parents emigrated from County Meath. In popular culture, 'Wrong Way' Corrigan (Douglas Corrigan, 1907–1995) — the aviator who filed a flight plan for California but landed in Ireland — made the Corrigan name famous across the English-speaking world.

Notable Corrigan Families

• Archbishop Michael Corrigan (1839–1902) — Archbishop of New York and one of the most powerful Catholic figures in 19th-century America. Parents from County Meath. A key architect of American Catholic institutional life.
• Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan (1907–1995) — American aviator who filed a flight plan for California in 1938 but landed in Dublin, Ireland — claiming he misread his compass. The story made him a national celebrity.
• Mairead Corrigan Maguire (born 1944) — Northern Irish peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1976), awarded jointly with Betty Williams for her leadership in the Peace People movement during the Troubles.
• Kevin Corrigan (born 1963) — American actor known for numerous film and television roles, of Irish-American descent.