Seagraves Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Seagraves Family History

Seagraves Family History

The Seagraves 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 Seagraves include Seagrave, Seegrave, Seegraves, Segrave, Seegraf and many others. This name is usually of English origin and is a locational name taken from the village of Seagrave in Leicestershire. This name is derived from the old English words 'set', meaning an animal pen or enclosure and 'graf' meaning a ditch or grove. Thus the name described a place where animals were kept and cared for. The name is recorded as early as the year 1086 in the 'Domesday Book'. Locality names are derived from placenames and describe someone who lived near a physical feature such as a tree, hill, river or church, or from habitations such as a town, village, farmstead or County. An early bearer of the name was Stephen de Segrave (1171-1241), who was as a Chief Justiciar of England. Baron Segrave is a title in English Peerage that was created for Nicholas Segrave in the year 1295. From England the name Seagraves and its variants spread to the rest of Europe and from there to America, Canada, Australia and the new world beyond. The Seagraves 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 Seagraves descendants.