Bolger Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Bolger Family History

Bolger Family History

The family history of the ancient name Bolger was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Variants of the Irish name Bolger include O'Bolger, Boulger, Bolgar and Boulsher. These names are derived from the native Gaelic O'Bolguidhir that was located in County Wexford.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

The name Bolger is closely associated with the south-east of Leinster Province and is rarely found elsewhere. The sept supplied many physicians to the Chiefs in that area. There are many references to the name in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to tenants, jurors and clergy, as well as medical men, mainly in County Kilkenny. In the 1659 census Bolger is recorded as a principal Irish name in three baronies of County Kilkenny, in two of County Carlow, and in two of County Wexford. In the seventeenth century families of the name were prominent in County Wexford, as is the case in modern times. The Bolger family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Bolger descendants.