Cannon Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Cannon Family History

Cannon Family History

The ancient origin of the name Cannon 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 Cannon include Canning, Cannings, O'Cannon and Cannan. Cannon is a common English surname derived from the ecclesiastical word 'canon'. It is also the anglicized form of the name of two quite distinct Irish Septs. One Sept is O'Canain, these being a Hi Many, Ui Maine Sept of the same stock as the O'Maddens and belonging to Southern County Galway though nearly extinct there now. The other is O'Cannannain abbreviated to O'Canann, an old Tirconnell Sept whose chiefs the annalists called Kings of Cinel Conaill. They were subjugated by the powerful O'Donnells in the thirteenth century and sank into obscurity. Descendants of minor families of the Sept, however, remained in their ancestral territory. In the seventeenth century they were numerous in County Donegal. The site of the ancient castle of the O'Cannons is near Letterkenny in Donegal. The name Kenny is used in that district as a synonym of Cannon.The Cannon 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 Cannon descendants.