McDermott Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McDermott Family History

McDermott Family History

The family history of the ancient name McDermott was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. McDermott is a name meaning 'free man'. This Irish name descends from Tadhg O'Connor, who was King of Connacht before the Norman invasion. They divided into two septs, the most important of which is that of Coolavin, County Sligo, whose territory embraced much of County Roscommon. The other sept was to the North of this County, at Kilronan, and was called MacDermot Roe. The MacDermots are one of the few septs whose head is recognised as an authentic Chieftain. Outstanding people of the name are Brian MacDermott, 1592, owner of the famous manuscript 'The Annals of Loch Ce', and Martin MacDermott, 1834-1905, the 'Young Irelander' and poet of the Nation. The name is rendered as MacDiarmada in Gaelic.The McDermott 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 McDermott descendants.