Muldoon Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Muldoon Family History

Muldoon Family History

The ancient origin of the name Muldoon 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 Muldoon include Muldon and Meldon. This name in Irish is O'Maolduin and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This sept came from Ulster.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

There where originally three septs of the name with the most important being that of County Fermanagh. They were Chiefs of Lurg and prior to their subjugation by the MacGuires in the year 1400 they were of Royal status. In the Annals of Loch Ce they are styled 'Kings of Lurg' and were of great importance in Ulster until the destruction of the Gaelic Order in the seventeenth century. In the 1659 Census Muldoon was found to be a principal Irish name in County Fermanagh. The name is now rare in Thomond where in the thirteenth century O'Muldoon of Ogonnelloe was one of the leading Ui Bloid families. The name Meldon is one of a number of variants and is found in the person of Austin Meldon, 1834-1904, who was the renowned President of the Royal College of Surgeons.The Muldoon 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 Muldoon descendants.