Coulter Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Coulter Family History

Coulter Family History

The ancient origin of the name Coulter 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 Coulter include Culter and Colter. This is a surname of locational origin from the manor of Coulter in Lanarkshire, meaning 'of Coulter'. This name is of Scottish descent and is found in many ancient manuscripts in the above country. Examples of such are a Richard of Culter who appears in record as sheriff of Lanark in the year 1226 and an Alexander de Cultre who witnessed a grant by Maldoueny, earl of Lennox to Stephen de Blantyr in 1248. Names were recorded in these in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. Coulter can be of Irish origin also, being derived from the Gaelic O'Coltair sept of County Down. The town of Ballycolter still exists to this very day.The Coulter 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 Coulter descendants.