Horan Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Horan Family History

Horan Family History

The family history of the ancient name Horan 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 Horan are O'Horan and Haren. The true sept of O'Horon, called O'hOdhrain in Irish, originated in County Galway from where they spread into County Mayo and are now fairly numerous in those Connacht Counties. Some anglicized forms of the name recorded in County Clare are Haren and Haran. Even when written Horan it is pronounced with an internal aspirate which is more accurately represented by the form Haughran, which is found in the birth registers of County Offaly as a synonym of Horan. Yet another variant, in this case peculiar to County Cork, is O'Hourahan or O'Horahan, a rare name but one familiar formerly to readers of 'The Nation' Newspaper on account of its regular contributor M. J. O'Horahan.The Horan 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 Horan descendants.