McCoy Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McCoy Family History

McCoy Family History

The McCoy 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 McCoy include McCooey and Cooey. McCoy is a fairly common name in Ireland and it is chiefly to be found in Ulster on both sides of the border in the County Armagh and County Monaghan area, with a few families of the name in Counties Cork and Limerick. A noteworthy bearer of the name was Revered Edward MacCoy, 1839-1872, who was a noted Gaelic writer. Sir Frederick MacCoy, 1823-1899, the Dublin-born naturalist, is best known for his work in that field in Australia. The Ulster Gaelic poet Art MacCooey is another member of this sept, his name in Irish being MacCobhthaigh. McCoy is also an anglicized form of the Gaelic MacAodha Sept which is also anglicized as McHugh. The McCoy 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 McCoy descendants.