Hurley Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Hurley Family History

Hurley Family History

The ancient origin of the name Hurley 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 Hurley include O'Murhila, Murley, Murrily and O'Herlihy. The well known surname Hurley is used as the anglicized form of two distinct Gaelic Patronymics. O'Hurley was one of the principal chiefs of Thomond in 1309, but after that they are mainly found in County Limerick in the Kilmallock area, and in north Tipperary where there is a placename Rathurley in the parish of Kilruane. The great majority of modern-day Hurleys are from County Cork. This was also the case in the seventeenth century when the name was recorded as being numerous in Counties Limerick and Clare. To Cork belong the sept referred to above. These in Irish are O'Muirthile, sometimes phonetically anglicized as Murhilla and shortened to Murley.The Hurley 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 Hurley descendants.