Haugan is a surname with Norwegian roots. The spelling of this word can be explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The word starts with the /h/ sound, followed by the /ɔː/ sound as heard in "saw". The /g/ sound is pronounced softly as a velar fricative /ɣ/. The second syllable starts with the /aʊ/ sound (as in "cow"), followed by the short /g/ sound pronounced as a velar plosive /ɡ/. Thus, the phonetic transcription of "Haugan" is /ˈhɔːɣaʊn/.
The word haugan has its etymology in Old Norse, an ancient North Germanic language spoken during the Viking Age (8th-11th centuries). In Old Norse, haugan meant hill or mound. This word eventually evolved into the modern English term howe, which refers to a burial mound or barrow. The Old Norse word haugr is also related and is used in contemporary Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish languages to mean hill or burial mound.