Guinan

Locally spelled Guiñan in VE Venezuela.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

• Spanish:/ɣinan/○(machine-generated) model-generated

Readings marked model-generated were transcribed by a model; the others are quoted from the dictionary named.

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Guinan is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French surname3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, United Kingdom

  Also written Guiñan

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

  Also written Guiñan

• Chinese surname2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, China, Ireland

  Also written Gui-Nan

• Swedish surname5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States

  Languages: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish

  Also written Guiñan

• Italian surname2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States

  Also written Guiñan

32 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Guinan is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• ‘descendant of Cuinnean’, a personal name from a dim. of conn chief. 2. Anglicized form of Gael. 6 Cuineain ‘descendant of Cuinean', a personal name from a dim. of cana whelp. Var.: Guinane.

  as a name·A dictionary of surnames

• ‘descendant of Cuinnedn , a personal narne from a dim. of conn chief. 2. Anglicized form of Gael. O Cuineain des¬ cendant of Guinean, a personal name from a dim. of cana whelp.

  as a name·The Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Texas Guinanb. 1884USAmerican Prohibition era saloon keeper and entrepreneur (1884-1933)
• Francis Guinanb. 1951USAmerican actor
• Edward Guinanb. 2000USAmerican scientist

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

14 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 7 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Guinan mean, and where does it come from?

reduced Anglicized form of two distinct Gaelic names, which have now become confused: 6 Cuinneain ‘descendant of Cuinnedn’, a personal name from a diminutive of conn ‘chief’, and 6 Cuineain ‘descendan… Recorded by Dictionary of American Family Names.

How do you pronounce Guinan?

In Spanish /ɣinan/. Transcriptions are machine-generated except where a dictionary is named.

Which countries have the most people with the surname Guinan?

In the United States, the national register counted about 1.7 thousand people named Guinan, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled guinan. After it come United Kingdom, Venezuela, Canada and Côte d’Ivoire; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name Guinan?

In the United States, the national register counted 1,727 people named Guinan in 2010, about 1 in 193 thousand residents.