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Surname Origins according to Heraldry/Surname origin websites.

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  • 19-10-2012 10:57pm
    #1
    LordSutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,078 ✭✭✭✭


    Just curious about all these Heraldry/Coat of Arms/Surname origin websites that give you the "Seat" - Origin of your family name!

    Can they be trusted? I only ask because we are/were doing the family tree and its just so easy to put in a Surname into any of these
    sites and to get an origin at odds with what you might expect (you think your surname is Irish, then you discover that its not).

    I am talking about sites like Hall of Names, House of Names, Home of Heraldry, etc etc etc . . .


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    #2
    RGM
    Registered Users Posts: 484 ✭✭RGM


    Almost all those places copy and paste their information from somewhere else, so it should be considered unreliable. But that doesn't mean it's necessarily wrong.

    Many names have multiple, unrelated origins, which can be confusing.

    Can I ask what Irish surname you were interested in?


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    #3
    LordSutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,078 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    Cranston.


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    #4
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users Posts: 26,078 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    The "seat" of a family name is not the origin. It refers to a landed family, and it's the place where they have their principal concentration of landholdings, and their principal residence. It can and does change from time to time. It's of less and less relevance as the source of a family's wealth, power and influence has less and less to do with the land they hold.

    In England, for example, the Grosvenor family seat is in Cheshire, where they have a big stately pile. But they're origin is in France; they came over with the Normans. And their money comes from a vast portfolio of (mostly) commercial property in London.


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    #5
    RGM
    Registered Users Posts: 484 ✭✭RGM


    LordSutch wrote: »
    Cranston.

    There have been Cranstons in Ireland for hundreds of years (I'd bet a few came over during the Ulster Plantation) but it looks like the name is derived from the barony of Cranston in Scotland. Not much reason to doubt that. Surnames that come from place names are a bit easier to track.

    There was an early governor of Rhode Island (1600s) who was descended from Cranstons in Scotland who traced their line back to the 1300s.


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    #6
    pedroeibar1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,108 ✭✭✭pedroeibar1


    LordSutch wrote: »
    Just curious about all these Heraldry/Coat of Arms/Surname origin websites that give you the "Seat" - Origin of your family name!

    Can they be trusted? .........

    I am talking about sites like Hall of Names, House of Names, Home of Heraldry, etc etc etc . . .

    They are charlatans who create on-line stores to sell heraldic wall plaques and “parchments” to the unwary. These, and the other heraldic tat on offer purport to represent 'Coats of Arms' associated with specific surnames. The sellers are in that business for profit, they rarely – if ever- conduct accurate research and the product sold invariably is incorrect.
    In heraldry, there is no such thing as a Coat of Arms for a surname. Coats of Arms belong only to the original grantees and their descendants in the male line.

    McLysaght has a lot to answer for!
    Rant over!:P


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    #7
    dubhthach
    Registered Users Posts: 3,284 ✭✭✭dubhthach


    Irish Times surname site has following:
    Cranston households in each county in the Primary Valuation property survey of 1847-64.

    Click on a county name for a parish breakdown of the number of households,
    and an all-Ireland parish map (paying).
    Armagh 12
    Belfast city 3
    Cavan 23
    Dublin city 1
    Fermanagh 12
    Laois 3
    Mayo 3
    Roscommon 2
    Tyrone 9

    SURNAME DICTIONARY/ SLOINNTE NA h-EIREANN
    Cranston Quite numerous: N Down and Ulster generally. Scottish. SS.

    Heaviest concentration in Cavan, interesting though when you look at 1911 census of the 260 Cranston's only 18 are living in Cavan. So obviously some changes occurred compared to Griffith surveys.


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