Farrell Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Farrell Family History

Farrell Family History

The family history of the ancient name Farrell 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 Farrell include O'Farrell and Frahill. This Irish sept was O'Farrell of Annaly, County Longford, and the chief who was known as Lord of Annaly, resided at O'Farrell's Fortress, hence the name of the town and County. The sept then formed two divisions, the chiefs of which were O'Farrell Boy and O'Farrell Bane. There were a great number of distinguished churchmen of the name, of whom Capuchin Father Richard O'Farrell, 1615-1663, of Annaly, was the most notable. The O'Farrells were not overwhelmed like the great majority of other Irish septs and played a worthy roll in resistance to the English. The great majority of present day bearers of these names are to be found in County Longford and in the surrounding areas. The variant Frahill is most commonly found in County Mayo.The Farrell 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 Farrell descendants.