McCallion Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McCallion Family History

McCallion Family History

The McCallion ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The name McCallion is often of Scottish origin but is also found in Ireland where it is derived from a number of Gaelic sept names.

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.

The MacCailin sept was located in Counties Donegal and Derry where they were gallowglass warriors to the O'Donnells. The town of Ballymacallion still exists in County Derry. In County Fermanagh McCallion is sometimes changed to MacCallan and even to Collins. In modern times the name McCallion is still mostly found in Ulster Province.The McCallion 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 McCallion descendants.