Carroll Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Carroll Family History

Carroll Family History

The Carroll 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 Carroll include Carvill. This is an Irish name meaning 'champion'. There were six septs of O'Carrolls before the Anglo-Norman invasion but only two survived. They were O'Carroll of Ely, Tipperary, and O'Carroll of Oriel, Monaghan and Louth. The clansmen of the sept O'Carroll of Oriel still remain in that territory today. The sept of O'Carroll of Ely survived until the sixteenth century, one of their chiefs being Cearbhal, Lord of Ely, who led the victorious army of Clontarf. Many noteworthy O'Carrolls figure in the 'Annals of the Four Masters'. One of these was Maolsuthian O'Carroll, confessor of Brian Boru and contributor to the 'Book of Armagh'.The Carroll 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 Carroll descendants.