So I would assume the "-an" is the diminutive suffix, similar to "-ito" or "-ita" in Spanish. Basically it makes whatever the thing it's attached to "small" or "little".
Yeah, that makes sense. I've never heard of it before though, but maybe that's just me. Or it was probably part of an older form of Irish.
Cool though.
Money, power, sex... and elephants.
-- Capt. Simon Illyan, ImpSec