Dolan Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Dolan Family History

Dolan Family History

The ancient origin of the name Dolan was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The name Dolan is derived from the Gaelic O'Dobhailen sept name. When Gaelic names were anglicized during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were often changed to Anglo equivalents that sounded most like their original Gaelic name. This ancient sept was located in Clonmacnowen barony in County Galway and in the barony of Athlone in County Roscommon.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

This sept is distinct from the O'Doibhilin sept which gives the name Devlin. In modern times the name Dolan is mainly found in Connaught Province in Counties Galway as well as in Counties Leitrim, Cavan and Fermanagh. Doolan is an occasional variant of this old Irish name.The Dolan 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 Dolan descendants.