Heaney Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Heaney Family History

Heaney Family History

The Heaney 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 Heaney include Heany, Hegny, Heeny, Heney and McAneany. This name in Irish is O'hEignigh 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.

There were several septs of the name found mainly in Armagh and Louth. O'hEignigh was Chief of Fermanagh until they became a part of the MacGuires in the year 1202 and prior to this date they were Kings of Oriel. Other septs include the O'Heanys who were Chiefs of Clann Chearnaigh in County Armagh another were Erenaghs of Banagher, County Derry. The tomb of Saint Muireadach O'Heany is in the church which was founded in the year 1121. In the 1659 Hearth Money Rolls of Armagh they were recorded in Counties Louth and Derry and around the same time they were found to be numerous in County Tipperary.The Heaney 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 Heaney descendants.