Frawley Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Frawley Family History

Frawley Family History

The Frawley ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The name Frawley in Ireland is most usually a variant form of the names Farrell and Farrelly. 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. 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. These families were not overwhelmed like the majority of Irish septs and played a worthy roll in resistance to the invaders. The change of the name from Farrell and Farrelly to Frawley took place from the seventeenth century onwards. The specific Gaelic form of Frawley is O'Freaghaile and in modern times it is most associated with Counties Limerick and Clare.The Frawley 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 Frawley descendants.