Rock Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Rock Family History

Rock Family History

The Rock 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 Rock include Rocks, Rocke, McCarrigy and Carrick. This name is derived from the MacConcharraigh Gaelic sept that was located in County Clare and which means 'Rock'. The name thus described a person who resided near a prominent boulder or rockface.

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 name was first anglicized MacEncarigy of which there were many variants such as MacCarrigoyne and Karracky. In the course of the seventeenth century the 'MacEn' element of this name was dropped leaving the form Carrig or Carrigy, with Carrick used as a synonym of this. Carrig is confined to Counties Clare and Limerick and MacCarrick to Ulster and Roscommon. The name Rock can also be of immigrant origin as it was introduced into Ulster Province by settlers from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century.The Rock 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 Rock descendants.