Hyland Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Hyland Family History

Hyland Family History

The Hyland ancient family history 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 Hyland include O'Halohan, Holland, Houlihan, Holian, Highland, Mulholland, O'Heelan, Hiland and Hylands. This name is O'hUallachain in Irish, the latter variants being the anglicized forms of this. There were at least two septs of the name originally located in Offaly and in Thomond. In the course of time they spread southwards in both cases, but in the census of 1659 the great majority of the name were living in County Kilkenny. In modern times Hyland is chiefly found in that County with the spelling Holohan, and in the Western part of Munster with the spelling Houlihan. In Offaly the O'Holohans shared the leadership of the Clan Colgan with the O'Hennessys. It was one of these, Dermot O'Holohan, who constructed the curragh bridge across the Shannon above Portumna which enabled O'Sullivan Beare to cross into Connacht on his epic march from Kinsale in 1602. In Ulster the anglicized form of the O'hAolain sept is Holland, but in Leinster it is Hyland and Hylands.The Hyland 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 Hyland descendants.