McCartan Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McCartan Family History

McCartan Family History

The McCartan 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 McCartan include McCarton, McCurtin and McArtain. This Irish family were a Northern sept, a branch of the O'Neills and were Chiefs of Kinelarty, a territory in County Down, called MacArtan's Country. They appear in the Annals up to the end of the fifteenth century, and for a time in 1350 the Chief of Kinelearty was also Lord of Iveagh, known as MacGennises country. In the present day Counties Armagh and Down are their mainstay. A well known Carton family of Dublin migrated from County Down to Cork in the sixteenth century, but their name has been absorbed by the name McCurtin.The McCartan 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 McCartan descendants.