Mcbride Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Mcbride Family History

Mcbride Family History

The McBride ancient family history 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 McBride include Kilbride, McBryde and McBraid. McBride is Mac Giolla Brighde in Irish, meaning 'son of the follower of Saint Brigid'. They are first recorded as erenaghs of Raymunterdoney, County Donegal, a Parish which includes Tory Island. In the seventeenth century they settled at Gweedore in the same County. The most distinguished of the sept was John MacGilbride, a Bishop of Raphoe in 1440. A branch of these settled in County Down in 1659. Although most of the Irish McBrides are from Southern Ireland many of the most prominent of the name are from Ulster. In Connaught the variant name Kilbride is often found. The McBride 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 McBride descendants.