An Irish surname the Gallagher family name originated in County Donegal in Ireland. The Irish spelling was O Gallchobhair. The Gaelic term of ‘gall’ meant stranger and the term ‘cobhair’ meant help or support.

Spelling variations for Gallagher include Goligher, Gallager, Gallacher, Galegher, Gallaugher and Galagher.

The Gallagher name is very common in County Donegal, Ireland and ranked fourteenth in all of Ireland. In Scotland the Gallagher family name covers from the central to southern regions with most in Lanarkshire. In England the higher concentration of Gallagher families is in Lancashire, Durham and Yorkshire counties.

The states of New York, California, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts within the United States have high numbers of Gallagher families.

Famous: Redmond O’Gallagher (16th century Bishop of Killala and Bishop of Derry), Joseph Gallagher champion chess master), Dave Gallagher (professional baseball player), David Gallagher (TV and film actor), Helen Gallagher (a Ziegfeld performer and founder of Gallagher’s Steak House), Trace Gallagher (news anchor and report on TV), Tess Gallagher (writer), John Gallagher (cartoonist) and Edward Gallagher (vaudeville entertainer).