Gallen Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Gallen Family History

Gallen Family History

The family history of the ancient name Gallen was found in the irishsurnames.com archives.

Surnames developed a wide number of variants over the centuries. 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 Gallen include Gallon, Goldrick, Goulding and Golden. In Irish this name is O'Gallin and O'Gallain and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of these Gaelic names. This sept came from Donegal.

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.

These were a family of the Cenel Eoghain, their territory comprising part of County Donegal as well as Counties Tyrone and Derry. The forms Golden and Goldrick are found around the Carrick-on-Shannon and Boyle areas with McGoldrick being fairly numerous in County Fermanagh where it is recorded in the Hearth Money Rolls of 1665. These were very ancient septs and we find them first recorded in the year 1054 in a person called Mac Ualghairg as Lord of Cairbre. They derived their name from Ualghairg O'Rourke, Lord of Breffny, who died in 1231 as a pilgrim on his way to the Holy Land.The Gallen 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 Gallen descendants.