Mackey Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Mackey Family History

Mackey Family History

The Mackey 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 Mackey include Mackie, McKey and McKee. This name in Gaelic is O'Macdha and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This sept came from Ormond.

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.

Their territory lay around the parish of Ballymackey, near Nenagh. By the sixteenth century they had spread to Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny and Offaly and by the year 1666 were found in substantial numbers in County Tipperary. Captain MacKey was one of the most prominent and active of the Fenian organization. A James Townsend MacKey, 1777-1862, was author of a standard work on Irish plants, he being the creator of the Trinity College, Dublin, botanical gardens.The Mackey 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 Mackey descendants.