Johnson Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Johnson Family History

Johnson Family History

The family history of the ancient name Johnson was found in the irishsurnames.com archives.

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 Johnson include Jonson and McShane. Meaning 'the son of John', this name is of Scottish descent spreading to Ireland, England and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout the above countries. Examples of such are a Alexander Johnson, of Aberdeen, Scotland, who received letters of denisation in England in the year 1480 and a Nicholas Johnson was a Burgess of Ayr, Scotland, in the year 1503. A Walter Jonesone of Berwickshire rendered homage in 1296 and a William Jonessone, merchant of Aberdeen, complained that his goods shipped in a Flemish vessel had been arrested at Grymesby in 1368. In Ireland the name is popular in Ulster having been introduced from Scotland Centuries ago. It is also an anglicized version of the native Gaelic MacSeain sept, who were a branch of the O'Neills, as well as being a variant of MacKeown and McKeon.The Johnson 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 Johnson descendants.