Warren Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Warren Family History

Warren Family History

The family history of the ancient name Warren was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Warren is an occupational name meaning 'game preserve keeper', a keeper of a warren, and taken from the district of Dieppe in France. Variants include Warrin, Warner and Waren. This name is of Anglo-Norman descent spreading to Ireland, Scotland and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts in these countries. Examples of such are a Richard de Warenne, County Norfolk, and a Richard le Warner, County Cambridgeshire, who were recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', England, in the year 1273. A Reginald of Waren was witness to a charter to the Abbey of Culross, Scotland, in the year 1231. A Henricus Warner was recorded in the 'Poll Tax' of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the year 1379.

In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. During the 'Plantations of Ireland' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ireland was colonized by the English Crown with this period marking the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland. This period brought an influx of settlers into the country but, unlike the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century that resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.

Warren is also an occasional variant of the name Murnane in Counties Cork and Kerry, taken from the Gaelic O'Murnain sept.The Warren 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 Warren descendants.