This was sent to me by a friend that has made the records in Scotland talk to her - it has been really interesting to watch her order the FHC films and make them come alive. So I said to her that I could look at them if we knew where the Cowan's had been before Ireland. So she she looked where she got her start on her research and below is what she found on the Cowan surname. In a friend's book of Scottish surnames here's the info on COWAN: A Lowland surname which is thought to be a transliteration of one of several Celtic names; there are no Cowans in the records before about 1560. Candidates are the Irish patronymic O Comhdhain (pronounced Cowan), and the Gaelic patronymic Mac gille chomghain (usually shortened to MacCowan); the etymologies are uncertain. Cowan's Hospital in Stirling was founded in 1639 by John Cowan, a merchant in the town. With such diverse origins, the surname has no particular location within Scotland.