Dermody Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Dermody Family History

Dermody Family History

The Dermody ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The names Dermody and Darmody are derived from the Gaelic O'Diarmada septs that were located in Counties Cavan, Westmeath and Galway, and from the MacDiarmada septs of Connaught Province. These families are one of the few septs whose head is recognized by the Irish Genealogical Office as an authentic Chieftain. The MacDiarmada sept divided into three distinct septs and are now found throughout the country as MacDermott. The main sept was located at Moylurg in County Roscommon where the Chief is known as the 'Prince of Coolavin'. The other sept was known as 'MacDermott Roe', taken from the Gaelic word 'ruadh' meaning 'red'. In Western parts of the country, and especially in County Galway, the name Dermody is often pronounced as 'Darmody'. The O'Diarmada sept that most often gave the name Dermody has become quite scattered through the centuries.The Dermody 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 Dermody descendants.