McAfee Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McAfee Family History

McAfee Family History

The McAfee 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 McAfee include McFee, McFie, McDuffie, McPhee, McPhie, MacAfee, Mahaffy and McHaffy. This name in Gaelic is MacDhuibhshithe and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This is one of the oldest Gaelic names in existence, dating back as early as the year 1164. The island of Colonsay in Scotland was the home of the Clan, where a MacDuffie was hereditary keeper of the records of the Lord of the Isles. Later they spread to Lochaber and were followers of Cameron of Locheil and the Islay MacDonalds. There still remain a number of tombs of these families on Oronsay. A branch of the family moved to Ulster Province in Ireland were the variants MacAfee, Mahaffy, and McHaffy are numerous. In modern times it is in Ulster and in Scotland that this name and its variants are still mostly found.The McAfee 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 McAfee descendants.