Explore the Family Name Heagney

The meaning of Heagney

Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hÉignigh, ‘descendant of Éigneach’, a personal name meaning ‘forceful’. The spelling of the Irish name was often simplified to Ó hÉinigh and then Anglicized as Heaney or ‘translated’ as Bird, the latter because of a perceived similarity to éan ‘bird’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Heagney in the United States?

According to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Heagney saw a slight drop in popularity between the years 2000 and 2010. Ranked at 50,468 in 2000, it fell to 55,121 in 2010, reflecting a decrease of 9.22%. The total count of individuals with this surname also declined by 4.11% during this period, from 389 to 373. Consequently, the proportion of Heagneys per 100,000 people decreased by 7.14%, falling from 0.14 to 0.13.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#50,468	#55,121	-9.22%
Count	389	373	-4.11%
Proportion per 100k	0.14	0.13	-7.14%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Heagney

The Decennial U.S. Census data indicates that there were shifts in the ethnic identity of individuals with the Heagney surname between 2000 and 2010. The percentage identifying as White decreased slightly from 94.09% to 90.88%, a change of -3.41%. Meanwhile, the Hispanic population increased by 14.79%, moving from 2.57% to 2.95%. Notably, the proportion of those reporting two or more races doubled from 2.06% to 4.29%, an increase of 108.25%. Lastly, the census for the first time recorded a small percentage (1.34%) of Heagneys as Asian/Pacific Islander in 2010. There were no individuals who identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year for this surname.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.09%	90.88%	-3.41%
Two or More Races	2.06%	4.29%	108.25%
Hispanic	2.57%	2.95%	14.79%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	1.34%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%