Reardon Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Reardon Family History

Reardon Family History

The ancient origin of the name Reardon 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 Reardon include Rearden and O'Riordan. The sept of O'Riordan originated in County Tipperary in Munster Province, but they migrated Southwards to County Cork at such an early date that they can be regarded as belonging to that County, where they are now far more numerous than anywhere else in the entire country. The prefix 'O' is fequently used in English, having been very widely resumed in the twentieth century. In the early 1900s there were sixteen Riordans for every one O'Riordan, now the numbers are approximately equal. Several County Cork O'Riordans appear as Irish soldiers in the seventeenth century. A branch of the O'Riordans, long seated at Derryroe in County Cork, settled at Nantes in 1753 and later became Peers of France. O'Rearden is another variant of this name.The Reardon 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 Reardon descendants.