Ewing Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Ewing Family History

Ewing Family History

The family history of the ancient name Ewing was found in the irishsurnames.com archives.

Surnames developed a wide number of variants over the centuries. 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 Ewing include Ewen, McEwen, Ewings and Ewin. This name in Gaelic is MacEoghain and in mediaeval documents in Latin is recorded as Eugenes. This is an ancient baptismal name meaning 'son of Ewan' and is found in many mediaeval documents. A Ewain vicecomes de Scon was recorded as being a witness to King Malcolm's Charter to Scon in the year 1164. A Douenaldus Ewain is recorded at Dunpeldre in the year 1165.

Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. It was by the method of creating and updating these old reference books that they were able to maintain their authority and enforce laws.

The Ewings in Ireland are found in records since the seventeenth century. They are associated with Counties Donegal, Derry, Tyrone and Antrim. Many of the name are recorded in Wills and in the 1659 census an Alexander Ewing is recorded as one of the leading inhabitants of Letterkenny, County Donegal. In the eighteenth century the Ewings were publishers of note in Dublin.The Ewing 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 Ewing descendants.