MAHONEY

The family history of the ancient name Mahoney was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Meaning 'bear', variants of the name Mahoney include Mahony and O'Mahony. This was a powerful Irish sept whose Chieftains were often regarded as Princes. Their territory was the barony of Kineelmeaky and extended to the sea, where they had a fortified castle called Rosbrian off the coast of West Cork. Mathghamhan, whose mother was a daughter of Brian Boru, was the O'Mahonys ancestor. He was killed with many of his men at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Another famous soldier of the name was Count Daniel O'Mahony, General of the Irish Brigade in the service of France and hero of the battle of Cremona.The Mahoney 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 Mahoney descendants.