McGonagle Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McGonagle Family History

McGonagle Family History

The ancient origin of the name McGonagle 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 McGonagle include McGonigle, Magonagle, Gonigal and MacConigly. These names are derived from the Gaelic MagCongail sept that was located in Counties Donegal and Derry in the North of Ireland. This sept was counted among the warlike followers of O'Donnell.

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.

They were an erenagh family and their Church was at Killaghtee. In the diocese of Raphoe two bishops of the name are recorded in the year 1589. Some bearers of the Gaelic MacCongaile sept of County Donegal also anglicized their name as McGonagle as well as MacConigly. The McGonagle 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 McGonagle descendants.