McCourt Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McCourt Family History

McCourt Family History

The McCourt 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 McCourt include Court, Courte, Courtnie and Courtney. This name is derived from the Gaelic MacCuairt and MacCuarta septs that were located in Counties Louth and Armagh.

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.

An early record of the name occurs in the 'Hearth Money Rolls' of Armagh in the year 1664 where the name was rendered as MacQuorte. A renowned literary bearer of the name was James McCourt, 1647-1732, whose poems were collected and published by Rev. L. Murray. He was a friend of Turlough O'Carolan and has been described as 'The Greatest of the Northern Gaelic poets'. The Norman name 'de Courtenai' was most often anglicized as Courtney but also occasionally as McCourt.The McCourt 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 McCourt descendants.