I would imagine that the first of them came probably from what today is Northern Ireland as most if not all of the first Ragan's (any spelling will do as you say) are not Roman Catholic. It was this area of Ireland that the English broke the back of the Roman Catholic church in Ireland. However, this being said, the English also "imported" a number of Scots and English to Northern Ireland to do this. Albeit you normally don't see any spelling of the surname Ragan in Scotland today. I don't know if it was from there at one time and they forced or brought over to Ireland a whole group or family with that surname...but I kind of doubt it. More than likely I surmise that the Ragan name is (or was) just Irish and probably from Northern Ireland at one time. I don't know if any of that surname migrated down to Ireland of today. Just my thoughts on the question. Cheryl Joseph Wesley Ragan NC> Dickson Co., TN> Texas County, MO> Izard County, AR. ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com