A family name of Ryan originated as an Irish Gaelic name of O’Maoilriain. The ‘mal’ means chief or king and ‘maol’ means a devotee. Also the term ‘rian’ means water. The Irish name also becomes O’Ryan, meaning the descendant of Rian.

Other spellings for Ryan are O’Ryan, O’Riain, O’Mulrian, O’Mulryan, Mulrian and Mulryan.

The Tipperary and Limerick Counties in Ireland have many people with the Ryan surname, it being a very common surname all across Ireland. In Germany the name would be Rein.

The London area is populated with Ryan families as well as Lancashire and Yorkshire counties. In Scotland the counties of Lanarkshire and Midlothian have Ryan residents.

Many Irish Ryan families came to U. S. in the early to mid-1900s due to the potato famine. They lived mostly in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and California.

Famous: William Patrick Ryan (journalist and author in Ireland), Irene Ryan (actress), Roz Ryan (singer and comedian), Gig Ryan (poet from Australia), Jimmy Ryan (19th century baseball player), Chris Ryan (rugby player from Australia), Meg Ryan (film actress), Peggy Ryan (film dancer), Nolan Ryan (professional baseball player), Matthew Ryan (musician) and John Barry Ryan (writer and author).