Harrington Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Harrington Family History

Harrington Family History

The ancient origin of the name Harrington 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 Harrington include Heraghty, Harraughton, Hingerty and Herrington. Meaning 'of Harrington', a town in Cumberland, this name is of Celtic origin and is found throughout England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It is found in many mediaeval manuscripts in these countries. Examples of such are a Ricardus de Heryngton who was recorded in the 'Poll Tax' of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the year 1379. In Ireland Harrington can be regarded as a West Cork name. Ungerdell or Hungerdell was the common form of the name in the sixteenth century in County Cork, where it appears in the census of 1659, in the Barony of Kinalmeaky. There are two other Gaelic names which are sometimes anglicized as Harrington, they being Heraghty of Counties Galway and Mayo and Harraughton of County Kerry. O'Hingerty was a variant of Harrington in the year 1577 when a John MacTeige O'Hengertye was recorded in a Fiant and is described as 'O'Hengertye alias Harrington'.The Harrington 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 Harrington descendants.