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

Geary / Family History

The Geary ancient family history 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 Geary include O'Geary, Gara and Guiry. The sept of O'Gara, O'Gadhra in Irish, is closely associated with that of O'Hara. They have a common descent down to the tenth century, Gadhra, the eponymous ancestor of the O'Garas, being nephew of Eadhra, a quo the O'Haras. From then on they established separate chieftainries. The association remained close and the chiefs of the two septs frequently alternated as rulers of Luighne. They have left their mark on Ireland historically, geographically and culturally. Their castle was Moygara on the shore of the lake still called Lough Gara. The name has become rather scarce in Ireland in modern times. Most of the survivors of the sept are today found in North Connaught.The Geary 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 Geary descendants.