Motley Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Motley Family History

Motley Family History

The Motley ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Motley is a locality name meaning 'of Motley', from a place found in County Lincolnshire. This name is of English descent and is found in many ancient manuscripts in that country. Examples of such are a Thomas de Motlawe who was recorded in the 'Poll Tax' of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the year 1379 and a Robert Dodds and Barbara Mottley who were granted a marriage license in London in the year 1570.

Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. It was by the method of creating and updating these old reference books that they were able to maintain their authority and enforce laws.

In Ireland this name was mostly introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. Earliest records of the name in Ireland can be found in Counties Wexford and Waterford as early as the fourteenth century. Variants of the name include Motlowe and Mutlowe The Motley 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 Motley descendants.