Biggins — The Beloved Little One

Biggins carries two separate histories under one spelling. In parts of northern England it began as a place-name for a dwelling or outbuilding. In Ireland it's usually the anglicised form of Ó Beagáin, ‘descendant of Beagán’, from the Gaelic word beag, meaning ‘little’, with one branch settled around the Fermanagh-Monaghan-Cavan border (Anglicised there as Beggan) and another, carrying the Biggins spelling linked to Connacht, specifically, around Mayo and the Galway border.

Which story is yours often comes down to whether your family's roots run through Mayo or further north near Clones — either way, a name built, quite literally, on staying small and staying rooted.

Irish form: Ó Beagáin