Forkin Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Forkin Family History

Forkin Family History

The Forkin ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The names Forkin and Forkan in Ireland are derived from the native Gaelic O'Gabhlain sept name that is taken from a Gaelic word that translates as 'fork'.

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.

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. Descendants of this ancient sept in modern times can be found mostly in Counties Galway and Mayo in the western part of Ireland. The name Goulding was also sometimes used as an anglicized version of this ancient sept name.The Forkin 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 Forkin descendants.