Lang Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Lang Family History

Lang Family History

The family history of the ancient name Lang 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 Lang include Laing, Lange, Langer, Lung, Lunge and Lyng. This name has a number of origins and can be of Scandinavian, Scottish and Irish origin. When of Scottish origin the families are a branch of the Scottish clan Leslie with the name being on record in Edinburgh from the year 1461. It is sometimes used in Kintyre as a curtailed form of the name Loynachan. When from Scandinavia it is of descriptive origin, describing a tall person and possibly from the old word 'lang' meaning tall. In Ireland some bearers of the name Lang can be derived from the Gaelic O'Lainn sept whose native name was also anglicized as Lyng and Ling. When Gaelic names were anglicized during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were often changed to Anglo equivalents that sounded most like their original Gaelic name. It is also possible that some Langs may be of the O'Longain sept in Ireland, more often changed to Long and Langan.The Lang 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 Lang descendants.