Shean Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Shean Family History

Shean Family History

The Shean ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Meaning 'little peaceful one', variants of Shean include Sheahan, Sheen and Sheehan. Shean is an anglicized form of the Gaelic O'Siodhachain. There were two septs of this Gaelic Irish name. One was the sept of the Ui Maine, who were hereditary trumpeters to the O'Kellys in mediaeval times. The other was a Dalcassian sept having a chief resident in Lower Connello in County Limerick. Distinguished persons of the name were Patrick Augustine Sheehan, 1852-1913, who was Canon Sheehan, author of 'My New Castle', and Michael Sheehan, 1870-1945, who was Archbishop of Sydney. Today the majority of the name are found in Counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick.The Shean 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 Shean descendants.