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

Finn / Family History

The family history of the ancient name Finn was found in the irishsurnames.com archives.

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 Finn include O'Finn, Maginn, Phin, Phinn, Phinney and Finucane. This name is found in the Annals that record the deaths of several Munster Bishops called O'Finn between the years 1020 and 1331. There were three septs, one of these being of County Sligo where they were Chiefs of Calry on the shore of Lough Gill. The County Sligo placename Coolavin is in Irish Cuil O'bhFinn, meaning 'the refuge of the O'Finns'. The leading family of another sept of O'Finn were erenaghs of Kilcolgan, County Galway, and the descendants of these are to be found in Connacht. The third sept, that of Feara Rois in South Oriel, fades out of the records after the Anglo-Norman invasion, though the name still survives there.The Finn 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 Finn descendants.