Haughey Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Haughey Family History

Haughey Family History

The family history of the ancient name Haughey 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 Haughey include McCaughey, McCaghy, Haughie, Haughy and Hoey. This name in Irish is O'hEachaidh and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This sept came from Ulster.

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.

We find the name in two areas of Ulster, they being Counties Donegal and Fermanagh and the Oriel country around Counties Armagh and Monaghan. This name normally has the 'O' prefix but occasionally appears with the prefix 'Mac' and in County Tyrone the variants McCaughey and McCaghy are common. The Registrar General also records Hoy in Antrim and Haffey in Armagh as synonyms. The sept was located in the Glenard area in the 1609 Armagh Church Lands Inquisition and the best known of the name was Charles J. Haughey, who was Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland.The Haughey 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 Haughey descendants.