My maternal grandmother was Moran. As I understand from the Moran de Buitron, Grandees of Spain. I do not know how the Moran got to the British Isles and Ireland or the other way around. Or maybe they are not related. Do you know aything about it? M. Gangotena

I'm Irish with friends in Spain, having lived there for one year. I too have been curious about the name Moran in Ireland and Morán in Spain.
We believe the Irish Moran is an anglisization of a few older Irish names.
While in Spain I read in a certain book that the name Morán was Spanish. I would however bear a few things in mind:
1: Alot of Irish went to Spain to fight in the Spanish civil war.
2: Alot of Spanish sailors were shipwrecked here over the years.
3: I remember seeing someplace?? here in Ireland an old family tree putting a Spaniard at the top of the tree.
I have been trying to rack my brains to remember where it was for years because I'm dying to know if Moran from only Spain or Ireland.
What is Moran de Buitron, Grandees of Spain ??.
If I can help in Ireland or Spain please let me know. If you find out anything could you please let me know at declan.moran@mail.esb.ie or dmoran@clubi.ie

While in Spain I read that the names origin is the following: In northern Spain near "Covadonga" a few hundred years ago, as the Spanish were starting to force the Moors of North Africa to retreat, the daughter of a Spanish king was made pregnant by a Moore warrior. The name given to the offspring was Moran which in a strange way meant "of the moore".
While travelling in the north of Spain myself, I stopped at a hotel in a small town one night. To my amazement the receptionist told me that my surname was very common in the that town.
I should point out that the north of Spain and especially that town are on the Atlantic ocean. So is Ireland. Travel between the two, although very difficult was possible.
The Irish name Moran (or at least the Irish names from which it has been anglicised) is very old. If the Spanish believe that their name Moran is only a few hundred years old as the story about Covadonga suggests then I would say that the Spanish name probably comes from the Irish name as the Irish one is older.
Please let me know if anybody knows anything about this subject.

Where does the name Gangotena come from.

My mother, who's mother was a Moran, spoke of Spanish blood. I always thought it explained her olive skin. :O) Linda

I have a lot inf.on the Moran de Butron, born in Spain 1585, born in Logrono in Reino de CastillaNotario del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion. In Guayaquil-Ecuador 1617 Was Teniente General de Corregidor. Your wife Dona Geronima Ponce de Leon y Diaz Bravo, may if you need more descendants, please seend a E-mail: rmoran@ns1.impsat.net.ec
My family live in Miami , Florida USA and NYC.I looking for my parents Spanish or Irish.
Roberto Moran

Futher to some research on the history of Moran I have found the followin

The name Moran was first recorded in County Mayo. It was the name of the King's of Ireland in 1500BC who descended from King Milesius of Spain the grandson of Breoghen, King of Galicia, Andalusia, Murcia, Castile and Portugal. Milesius turned his attention northword to Ireland to fulfill an ancient Druidic prophecy. He sent an army to explore this fertile island. On finding that his son had been murdered by the three resident Irish Kings (the Danans), milesius gathered another army to take his revenge on the Irish. He died before he left for the trip. His remaining eight sons conquered Ireland.
Heremon, his oldest son, reigned in Ireland for 14 years, along with his brothers Heber, Ir and Ithe. They named the land Scota, their mothers name, the land of the Scots. This name would later be taken by the Irish King Cola in 357AD, when he was exiled to Scotland, leaving the name"Ir-land", land of Ir, the youngest of Milesius sons

Hope this helps

Joyce

The Moran name is both old and proud in numerous countries, including Ireland, Spain ,France and Italy. Moran in Spain is as common as Smith in the USA, especially Andulucia. The Spanish Armada of 1588 was said to have had many Moran crew members so when that great fleet floundered on the shores of Ireland, those Catholic sailors were welcomed and hid by the Irish from treir common enemy, the English. Many say that the origin of the Moran name in the land of St Patrick was from this source. However, the abandoned church cemetary at Cong, Co Mayo (where "The Quiet Man" was filmed) is full of Moran tombstones dating back to the 14th century, so that would preclude the Spanish armada story. Moran is also fairly common in France with at least two Morans traveling to England with Billy the Conc in 1066. Italy also has a fair sprinkling of Morans, but no one seems able to nail down the beginnings of Morans in that country, but the name was recorded in Venice as early as the 12th century. Hope this adds to the discussion .

I am very interested in my geneology. My grandmother researched her entire life on our geneology and never found the beginning. She had notebooks of documentation that I intend to set up a family tree. My recent ancestors came to Biloxi, Mississippi with D'Iberville and Bienville in 1700. This was the first Lousiana Territory Capital before New Orleans. We came from Normandy France and Quebec City Canada. Any more info is appreciated. One ancestor was the first documented settler in Quebec City.

I am a history teacher, and have for many years wondered if the legions of Spanish/Moorish sailor/troops that abandon ship during the English/Spanish (Armada) war of 1588 may have had some influence on the surname I bear. Being of proud Irish stock, I hesitate to jump to any conclusions. However, being an objective historian has its obligations as well.
To be more specific, as the English drove the seemingly mighty but drastically underprepared Spanish gallions north through the English Channel via fireships, many Spanish vessels proceeded to hug the English and then Irish coastline in a U-shaped pattern. This was no doubt an effort to safely return home to Spain eventually. It is well documented that Spain's King Philip II enlisted scores of Moors (those that survived the heresy craze under Inquisition) for naval duty. Somewhere off the west/northwest shores of Ireland, the embattled Spanish warships began to fall apart,and subsequently sink. Hundreds of men jumped for their lives and attempted to swim ashore. Only a hundred or so made it, according to legend. The bulk of them stayed in Ireland, finding one way or another to fit in and eventually diffuse.

A footnote--outside of the surname possibilities, some thought has been given by scholars of late to the possibility that some darker skinned Irish (I knew one in college--not black, but bronzish in skin tone)may have descended from these Moorish refugees. In that particular case, my surname does not fit my family lineage's skin tone, as we are/were all lily-white.

Dave Moran