Hanratty Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Hanratty Family History

Hanratty Family History

The ancient origin of the name Hanratty 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 Hanratty include Hanraty and O'Hanraghty. These names are derived from the Gaelic O'hAnrachtaigh sept name, taken from the word 'anrachtach' meaning 'unlawful'.

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.

The sept, a comparatively small one, were a branch of the great Maguires of Oriel. Statistics show that apart from the city of Dublin, in which, of course, there are migrant families from all parts of Ireland, nearly all bearers of the name reside in Counties Louth, Armagh, and Monaghan. The Chiefs of the O'Hanraghtys, of whom several are mentioned in the ancient document 'The Four Masters' between 1019 and 1161, under the style of Lords of Ui Meith, held a considerable territory in the northern part of the modern County Louth. The pressure of the Anglo-Norman invasion pushed these families westwards into County Monaghan, and in the twelfth century they settled near the modern town of Castleblaney. The Hanratty 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 Hanratty descendants.