Lanigan Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Lanigan Family History

Lanigan Family History

The Lanigan ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Variants of the Irish name Lanigan include Lannigan, Langan and Longan. These names are derived from the Gaelic O'Lonagain and O'Longain septs that were located in Counties Kilkenny and Armagh respectively.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

A separate Gaelic O'Longain sept of County Cork also anglicized their name as Lannigan as well as the more usual Long and Longan. 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 speculated that these names trace their origin to the Gaelic word 'long' which translates as 'tall'. In modern times Lanigan and Lannigan are mostly found in County Kilkenny and the surroundings Counties. The Lanigan 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 Lanigan descendants.