Mahon Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Mahon Family History

Mahon Family History

The ancient origin of the name Mahon was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Meaning 'son of a bear', variants of Mahon include McMahon, Mohan and Vaughan. This Irish surname has two distinct septs. The first descended from Murtagh Mor O'Brian, who was King of Ireland in the year 1119. Their territory was Corcabaskin in West Clare and the last chief of the sept fell at the Battle of Kinsale in 1602. The other sept was in County Monaghan and they became Lords of Oriel in the thirteenth century. Their present day representatives are still to be found chiefly in Counties Clare and Monaghan. Notable people of the name were Bernard MacMahon, 1680-1747, his uncle Hugh MacMahon, 1737, and his brother Ross Roe MacMahon, 1698-1784, who were all Archbishops of Armagh. The Mahon 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 Mahon descendants.