A Welsh surname, Vaughan comes from the Welsh terms ’bychan’, ’wychan’ and ‘fychan’ which refers to someone smaller, like a son, especially for a man with the same name as his father. A spelling variation for Vaughan is Vaughn. The Vaughan family name covers all of Wales, but especially very populated in Glamorgan, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Breconshire, Denbighshire and Radnorshire. In England the Vaughan name is close to the border of Wales, especially in Herefordshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Gloucestershire. The city of London, Kent, Hampshire and Yorkshire have many with the Vaughan name. In Scotland the main concentration of the Vaughan name is in Angus, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. Within the United States the original Vaughan families settled in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. Famous: Frankie Vaughan (English singer), Philip Vaughan (18th century inventor in Wales of a ball bearing), John Vaughan (19th century Welsh footballer), Brian Keller Vaughan (comic book and television writer), Henry Vaughan (19th century architect of English churches), Mark Vaughan (Irish footballer), Stevie Ray Vaughan (singer and musician), Peter Vaughan (movie film and television English actor), William Vaughan (poet from Wales), Robert Vaughan (musician) and William Harry Vaughan (founder of the Georgia Tech Research Institute).