McDade Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McDade Family History

McDade Family History

The McDade ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Variants of the name McDavid include David, Davids and McDermott. Families bearing the name McDavid are of distinct origin from those bearing the names McDade, McDaid and McDevitt, who are found in County Donegal and parts of Derry. These names mean 'son of David' and although some members of the septs just mentioned may have changed their name to McDavid the majority are from a branch of the well-known McDermott sept that was located in Moylurg in County Roscommon.

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 McDade 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 McDade descendants.