Houston Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Houston Family History

Houston Family History

The ancient origin of the name Houston 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 Houston include Houstoun, Huston and Houstone. This is a locational name taken from the Barony of the name in Lanarkshire in Scotland. The ancient family of Houston originally bore the name Paduinan, from a place of that name in Lanarkshire. In the reign of Malcolm IV, Baldwin de Bigre gave the lands of Kilpeter to Hugh de Paduinan, who appears as a witness to the foundation charter of the Abbey of Paisley between 1165 and 1173. Hugh's son Reginald, obtained a confirmation of these lands. Hugh, son of Reginald again, obtained a charter from Walter Fitz-Alan, High Steward, now become superior of the lands, wherein it is narrated that his father and grandfather held the lands of the family of Bigre. The Barony had now taken its Saxon name from the settlement of the first of these Old Lords- Huston or 'Villa Hugonis'. In Ireland the name is mostly found in Ulster Province where it is also an occasional variant of the names MacQuiston, MacTaghlin and McCutcheon. The Houston 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 Houston descendants.