Bresnahan / Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Bresnahan / Family History

Bresnahan / Family History

The Bresnahan ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The Irish name Bresnahan is taken from the Gaelic O'Brosnachain, this being derived from a place called Brosna in County Kerry. There are many variant spellings of this name including Bresnane, Bresnehan, Bresnihan, Brosnahen, Brosnahin, Brosnihin, Brusnahan, Brusnehanm, Brosnan and Brosnahan. The earliest record of the name is in the year 1313 in east Munster, when the betaghs on a manor estate near Clonmel included O'Brosnanes. King's analysis of the 1901 Census shows that there were 264 Brosnan families in Kerry and in the inquisitions of 1611 we find a Brestenehane listed. Bresnahan and its variants all originated in County Kerry.The Bresnahan 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 Bresnahan descendants.