Ballydugan

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(Baile Uí Dhuagáin)
Modern Ballydugan lies on the boundary between Cos. Down and Armagh. The historical forms illustrate how this name, at first a subdivision of a townland, ended up replacing the original townland name. The hamlet of Dowgane first appears in 1611 as part of an area in Clanconnell called Ballydromneskie. By the middle of the century the 'townland of Ballydoogan' is cited on the boundary of Lower Iveagh (c.1655), while it is given as an alias for the older name in the sources following Petty's barony map (e.g.. Dromiskey al. Ballydoogan 1661). The division called Shian in 1611 is preserved in the name of Shanes Hill in the townland. The spelling Ballydowigan (1666, 1716) indicates a further syllable in the second element. Despite the early occurrences without Baile- (e.g. hamlet of Dowgane 1611) it seems likely, as O'Donovan and Mooney have taken it, that Dugan represents a family name, anglicized from Ó Dubhagáin. Woulfe (1923, 509) gives five distinct families. In Ulster the name is most likely an offshoot of the family who were hereditary historians (De Script. Hib. 91) to the O'Kellys, compilers of the Book of Uí Mháine, from Ballydugan near Loughrea. Ballydugan is also the name of a townland near Downpatrick. There is no 17th-century record of the surname in Down, but 'some of the sept of Duganes' were established tenants of some archbishop lands near Armagh city in 1609 (CPR Jas I 374a). The surname is now Dougan and Duggan. Although Ballydugan is generally pronounced Dougan in the area, the immediate local inhabitants may say Duggan.