Burns Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Burns Family History

Burns Family History

The Burns ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives.

Many different spelling variations of the same name can be traced back to a single original root. Also, when a bearer of a name emigrated from Ireland it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books upon arrival at their new location. Some names have dozens of spelling variations. Some Surnames were also altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically, by their sound, and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another. This was especially so in Ireland where most Gaelic names were 'anglicized' at some stage.

Variants of the name Burns include Burn, Burne, Bourn and Bourne. This is a locality name meaning 'at the burn' (a brook), and given to a person who lived nearby. This name is of Celtic origin although it is quite common in England. In Scotland, in the 16th century, a family of Burnes were lease holders of the lands of Bralinmuir and Bogiordan, which forms the estate of Inchbreck. The Burns in Ireland are mostly of Scottish descent, with the rest taking their name from the Irish surname Byrnes. A John de la Burn of Oxfordshire, England, was recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls in the year 1273 and a William Bourne and Agnes Johnson were granted a marriage license, in London, in the year 1618. David Burnis was a follower of the Earl of Cassilis, and was respited for murder, 1526, and a later David Burnis was Burgess of Ayr, in the year 1587, but because the name was written Burns, he and his brother agreed to drop Burnis and assume the form Burns.The Burns 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 Burns descendants.