McNulty Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McNulty Family History

McNulty Family History

The McNulty 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 McNulty include Nulty and North. McNulty in Irish is Mac an Ultaigh which translates as 'son of the Ulsterman', a settler from the North. The McNultys belong today as they have always done, to north-west Ulster, and to Donegal in particular, which claims to be the most Gaelic part of Ireland. As might be expected from the location of this sept they were overshadowed by the O'Donnells, but sometimes in association with them, as in the battle of Desertcreagh in 1281, when a McNulty was among the 'distinguished slain' there. They were opposed to the O'Donnells on the occasion in 1431 when the O'Donnells are recorded by the 'Four Masters' as making a predatory expedition against the McNultys of Tirhugh in Donegal. From nearby Derry came Frank Joseph McNulty, 1872-1926, an American labour leader, whose father Owen McNulty was a veteran of the Civil War. The form North indicates a person who arrived from the Northern Counties.The McNulty 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 McNulty descendants.