Finucane Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Finucane Family History

Finucane Family History

The ancient origin of the name Finucane was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The names Finucane and MacFinucane are derived from the Gaelic MacFionnmhacáin sept that was located in County Clare in the western part of Ireland.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

This name is derived from the Gaelic words 'fionn' meaning 'fair' and 'mac' meaning 'son'. When Gaelic names were anglicized during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were often changed to Anglo equivalents that sounded most like their original Gaelic name. A coat of arms or family crest is an ancient and distinctive design the origin of which dates back over a millennium. Initially these armorial bearings were first used by feudal lords and warriors on the field of battle as a means of identification but later became extant among the general population. While some coats of arms refer to individuals others refer to groups of people who bear the same name. A further variant of the name Finucane found in County Clare is Kinucane. The Finucane 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 Finucane descendants.